Facing climate challenges in coastal areas: a necessarily evolving social acceptability of adaptation. The case study of a French subarctic archipelago.

• Main Authors: Philippenko, Xénia, Goeldner-Gianella, Lydie, Le Cozannet, Gonéri, Grancher, Delphine
• Other Authors: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1), Laboratoire de géographie physique : Environnements Quaternaires et Actuels (LGP), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UP1)-Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 (UPEC UP12)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: social acceptability; adaptation to climate change; governance; overseas territory; [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03716603

International audience Due to climate change, coastal subarctic environments are facing rising temperatures and sea levels, which exacerbate coastal erosion and flooding during extreme events , challenging coastal societies’ resilience . Based on doctoral research on Saint-Pierre-and-Miquelon archipelago, we studied the acceptability of various possible adaptation measures. The notion of social acceptability refers to the process during which a social group admits the existence of restrictions or modifications in its environment . Here, we explore social acceptability through three dimensions, space, time and governance, with a particular focus on managed retreat and nature-based solutions. The results are based on a questionnaire survey and focus groups. The spatial dimension plays a role in acceptability: hard solutions are preferred for places with high challenges, whereas soft solutions such as nature-based solutions are more easily acceptable in leisure areas. The temporal dimension also matters: managed retreat is better accepted at long term, whereas the short term seems to be a desired time scale for both nature-based solutions and hard engineering protections. Finally, the question of governance influences acceptability of solutions, depending on the confidence in stakeholders and on population's expectations towards these stakeholders. Specific barriers due to the overseas’ or to the archipelago’s context (overlapping competencies of various public actors, legal gaps or customary traditions) weaken confidence, reduce acceptability and penalise local resilience and implementation of adaptation processes, in particular the managed retreat of Miquelon village. These results show that acceptability is constantly evolving, depending on time, space and governance context, which may either represents barriers to adaptation or offers opportunities to strengthen the resilience of local societies.