Program 2

Recognising that the frequency and intensity of coastal hazard events is increasing globally, coastal managers are grappling with how they can prioritise their investments in coastal management to ensure protection of important coastal assets, while trying to do so cost-effectively.  Selecting the right management actions depends on a number of things, including: •    What assets at risk and in need protection, including whether natural or built. •    Stakeholder preferences for managing the various assets that are at risk. •    The current state of knowledge and technology regarding coastal protection structures, including traditional engineered structures and nature-based coastal protection methods. •    How likely different actions are to succeed given the environmental conditions at the site, and the influence of other dynamic processes occurring in the surrounding land and seascape.  •    The financial resources available to implement management. Acknowledging that managers are constrained by the financial resources they have available when making decisions, it is important for them to select management options that deliver benefits to coastal stakeholders. Those stakeholders will include coastal communities and recreational users, and the benefits may not come solely from protection of built infrastructure but also through the social and environmental values associated with protecting recreational spaces and natural ecosystems. This research program will deliver an economic prioritisation tool that will enable coastal managers to weigh up the benefits and costs of different coastal protection and adaptation projects. It will explicitly integrate not only the financial costs and benefits of those projects, but also the social and environmental ones by linking to a coastal community values database that is being developed in related work led by Dr Rogers. The understanding of socio-ecological dynamics established through Prof. Cumming’s research program will inform how risk is addressed in the prioritisation tool, in terms of how broader landscape processes may influence the probability of different projects delivering the required coastal protection benefits.