Local Participation in Mitigation and Adaptation to Coastal Hazards in the U.S.: A Critical Review with a Focus on Resettlement

Intensity of coastal hazards driven by changes in climate and land use have been increasing in many parts of the world, including the United States (U.S.), where 40% of the population lives near the coast. While many U.S. coastal settlements already have or are preparing hazard mitigation and adaptation plans, a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in active participation of local communities to coastal hazard mitigation and adaptation has been lacking. We carried out a systematic review and identified 61 papers that studied local participation in mitigation and adaptation to coastal hazards in 61 locations across the U.S. We identified three prominent issues hampering effective participation in coastal hazard mitigation and adaptation. Of the 61 papers, half focused on a single issue, and nearly half elicited a single participant group, most commonly community residents. Our findings indicate that greater institutional capacity across all levels of governance, more efficient funding allocation mechanisms, and more bilateral communication between scientists and local stakeholders—including local decisionmakers and community residents—are the most essential challenges in developing effective participation in mitigation and adaptation to coastal hazards. We illustrate their importance in the context of resettlement, which presents particularly urgent governance, finance, and equity challenges, especially for remote Indigenous communities. Our findings highlight inequalities and challenges in governance and financing that are present even in a developed, prosperous country and are thus indicative of the type of challenges to local participation that can be experienced in any coastal mitigation and adaptation context.