ANTICIPA TING STAGED MANA GED RETREAT AT THE COASTAL MARGINS

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ANTICIPA TING STAGED MANA GED RETREAT AT THE COASTAL MARGINS
COASTAL MANAGEMENT

    Anticipating
    staged managed
    retreat
    at the coastal margins
    Key questions and considerations for
    community and local government evaluation
    of managed retreat approaches.

    Owen, S.1, Lawrence, J.2, Ryan, E.1,
    Kench, P.1, Bell. R.3, Rennie, H.4,
    Blackett, P.3, and Schneider, P. 5

8                                               PLANNING QUARTERLY
Managed retreat in coastal areas involves the landward relocation                                  retreat as: “…a long-term, strategic
                                                                                                   decision to allow the shoreline to migrate
of existing and planned development to reduce exposure to hazards.                                 inland in response to sea-level rise and
                                                                                                   attendant erosion [and flooding], and
The hazard risk is reduced or removed entirely, leaving the coast to                               proactive management of the removal of
respond to natural processes.                                                                      affected assets, rather than protecting the
                                                                                                   existing shoreline”. Managed retreat is thus
Introduction                                    in Hawke’s Bay by three joint councils             “conscious”, “deliberate”, “coordinated”, and
                                                developing the Clifton to Tangoio Coastal          “precautionary” (Fletcher et al., 2013).
The New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement
(NZCPS) 2010 provide directives to local        Hazards Strategy 2120 (www.hbcoast.                In practice, managed retreat employs
government to consider such approaches          co.nz). We provided social and physical            a number of staged actions, including
(Objective 5; policies 25 and 27), amongst a    science expertise, acting as a ‘critical friend’   anticipating the removal or abandonment
suite of options for reducing coastal hazard    supporting the stakeholder evaluation              of hard protection structures, decisions
impact on existing and future development.      of multiple coastal management options             to stop maintaining such structures,
Similar provisions were present in the          for the region’s coast. In this context the        restrictions on land use, identifying new
NZCPS 1994, however, managed retreat            team provided a review of managed retreat          places for retreating communities to go,
approaches still remain a ‘black box’ for       practice, as well as information on other          and the removal or relocation of at-risk
many and New Zealand has few successful         options and assessment tools, highlighting         infrastructure, including transport links.
examples of managed retreat of habitable        different approaches and barriers to               These actions may require a transition
dwellings at the coast. There is a pressing     implementation.                                    over a few or many years and flexible
need to examine managed retreat more            Here we identify key questions and                 planning processes that can signal change
closely as a viable, or the only, alternative   considerations for community and local             is approaching, triggering decisions to
for sites at intractable risk of erosion and    government evaluation of managed retreat           shift to new pathways rather than reinforce
flooding. Here we seek to unpack the black      approaches. In particular, we highlight            delay or additional exposure to hazards.
box of managed retreat as a mainstream          managed retreat as a suite of options that         A number of anticipatory short and long
option for coastal risk management.             may be staged over time in response to             term planning tools are available for
We draw from collective observations            agreed triggers (decision points) before           facilitating managed retreat, including
arising from work undertaken by the Living      reaching adaptation thresholds. Proactive          development setbacks, hazard overlay
at the Edge project (The Edge), part of the     community engagement is highlighted                maps, relocatable buildings, relocation
Resilience to Nature’s Challenges, National     as pivotal. We place these questions               plans (including trigger points) and closed
Science Challenge. We worked alongside          within the context of the Ministry for             zones (e.g. Mapua and Ruby Bay, Tasman
a formal decision making process that           the Environment Coastal Hazards and                District, MfE Guidance, 2017: 43). Retreat
embodied engagement with communities            Climate Change: Guidance for Local                 also provides opportunities to re-vision
                                                Government (MfE Guidance, 2017)1 and               coastal spaces and connections with
                                                the Department of Conservation’s (DoC)             coastal communities, including enhancing
1
  School of Environment, The University of      NZCPS 2010 Guidance Notes: Coastal                 public access, recreational space, landscape
Auckland, Auckland.                             Hazards2, to inform practice.                      value, and ecological functioning (Fletcher
2
  Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria   Unpacking the ‘black box’: defining                et al., 2013).
University of Wellington, Wellington.
                                                managed retreat
3
  National Institute of Water and Atmospheric                                                      1
                                                                                                     http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/
Research (NIWA)                                 Managed retreat is commonly perceived
                                                                                                   climate-change/coastal-hazards-and-climate-
4
  Department of Environmental Management,       as a singular ‘one off ’ option, predicated        change-guidance-local-government
Lincoln University                              on the removal of structures, disruptive           2
                                                                                                     http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/
5
  The School of People, Environment and         for people and costly upfront. However,            conservation/marine-and-coastal/coastal-
Planning, Massey University, New Zealand        Reisinger et al. (2015) define managed             management/guidance/policy-24-to-27.pdf

ISSUE 209                                                                                                                                        9
COASTAL MANAGEMENT

Towards anticipatory managed retreat
                                                                                               participatory strategy developed at
While these definitions infer that managed
                                                                                               the outset will enable the context and
retreat is a process to be canvassed with
                                                                                               community values to guide the process
communities, with options and triggers              Attempts to                                of plan development and implementation
explored for future action, for many                 implement                                 (refer Chapter 3 of the MfE Guidance,
communities the realities of retreat are
                                                  managed retreat                              2017; DoC Guidance Notes, 2017). The
decisions driven post-hazard. While many
                                                                                               processes can then be inclusive of a range
international examples of retreat involve             have been                                of voices and reflect local and wider
property buy-out after a significant event
(e.g. Staten Island, USA, post-Hurricane
                                                    challenged                                 community values, beyond the economic
                                                    by affected                                value of physical assets and private
Sandy), these emphasise a reactive
                                                                                               property.
approach, overlooking how longer term             property owners,                             Funding managed retreat
retreat plans developed with communities
can be implemented. Anticipatory strategies       concerned at the loss                        Financial limitations and uncertainty
can enable decisions about properties and         of connection to home                        about who will bear the cost can constrain
communities to be staged over a number of
decades by first identifying the most at-risk
                                                  and place, uncertainty                       implementation of managed retreat options
                                                                                               (Boston & Lawrence, 2017). Successful
sites and staging the implementation of the           about property                           international examples of managed retreat
retreat options.                                  values, insurance, and                       have been contingent upon significant
Developing agreed triggers for retreat            mortgage availability.                       funding assistance from national or
                                                                                               state-level governments. New Zealand
To enable staged implementation,
                                                                                               funding mechanisms currently rely on a
community coping capacity needs to               (Boston & Lawrence, 2017). Inadequate         disaster trigger through the Earthquake
be identified and triggers designed for          or absent community engagement has            Commission and insurance, after the
retreat well before the coping thresholds        significantly constrained attempts to         damage has occurred. Managed retreat
are reached. Triggers can be physical ones       implement managed retreat. In instances of    is by contrast an anticipatory strategy to
such as increasing frequency of flooding         government driven relocation or removal       avoid and reduce risk. Through managed
events and the location of erosion relative      of shoreline protection there has been        retreat the costs of adaptation, while
to at-risk structures, or social triggers that   community resistance (e.g. Fairbourne,        potentially substantial, can be managed by
start to emerge as the physical impact           Wales; Byron Bay, Australia) resulting        spreading them across time, thus reducing
evolves. Decisions can be made for               in delay, significant cost and policy         the burden on both current and future
implementation of retreat options in time,       reversal. Attempts to implement managed       generations.
ahead of such defined trigger thresholds         retreat have been challenged by affected
being reached. Understanding community           property owners, concerned at the loss of     Key questions to address
thresholds and the development of agreed         connection to home and place, uncertainty     Relocation options are essential for an
triggers can help ameliorate community           about property values, insurance, and         adaptive retreat strategy aiming to reduce
concerns about the timing and magnitude          mortgage availability. However, where         hazard risk. Movement of households
of sea-level rise, how triggers can be           communities were engaged and included         and infrastructure requires site-specific
reflected in plans, and the potential            in decision-making in an enduring and         consideration of whether managed
impacts on people, land and assets. The          meaningful way, strategies for retreat have   retreat is total abandonment, full or
MfE Guidance (2017) offers direction on          been developed and implemented (Port          part relocation, the timing, the triggers
how hazard and sea level rise assessments        Waikato; Twin Streams (Vandenbeld &           that will activate the adaptive plan and
can be done where uncertainty exists, and        MacDonald, 2013); Grantham; Soldiers          consideration of:
methods that can be used for developing          Grove). See also Appendix 1 of the MfE        • What are the community values and
adaptive plans, including managed retreat.       Guidance (2017).                                aspirations?
The need for early and effective                 The timing of effective engagement is         • Is land available for relocation?
engagement                                       critical for successful implementation of
                                                 managed retreat. Community engagement         • What criteria are used for allocation of
A major constraint on community and
                                                 is frequently undertaken near the end of        land?
local government considering managed
retreat processes is understanding the           the decision cycle, and may be perceived      • Does the community wish to relocate as
viability of options and their funding           as a post-hoc legitimising exercise. A          a community?

10                                                                                                                PLANNING QUARTERLY
• What infrastructure and services should
       be relocated?
     • Should local government play a role in
       providing relocation options?
     • Do planning controls facilitate or create
                                                        Managed retreat considerations
       barriers to the movement of structures           necessitate a collective process,
       or the development of new sites away              involving early engagement, that
       from the risk areas?
     • Who should pay?
                                                       can address the why, where, how and when
     • What are the equity issues?
                                                                       of retreat.
     • What funding mechanisms are available?
     Conclusions
                                                   driven. Efforts to undertake more strategic   and McAllister RRJ (2013) “Costs and coasts:
     Managed retreat comprises a staged            (pre-emptive) relocation actions are less     An empirical assessment of physical and
     and evolving adaptive planning process        common in New Zealand. Early and              institutional climate adaptation pathways”
     over time that can be implemented                                                           National Climate Change Adaptation Research
                                                   considered engagement, identifying the        Facility, Gold Coast, https://www.nccarf.edu.
     in a range of physical, social and            values of current and future generations,     au/publications/costs-and-coasts-climate-
     governance conditions. Managed retreat        can avoid disconnects between community       adaptation
     considerations necessitate a collective       and local government and short and longer     Reisinger A, Lawrence J, Hart G, Chapman R
     process, involving early engagement, that     term priorities, particularly where retreat   (2015) From coping to resilience: the role of
     can address the why, where, how and                                                         managed retreat in highly developed coastal
                                                   is anticipatory and not forced through
                                                                                                 regions of New Zealand. In: Glavovic B, Kelly
     when of retreat. The preferred outcome        extreme events.
     would be the development of a staged                                                        M, Kay R, Travers A. (eds) Climate change
                                                                                                 and the coast: building resilient communities.
     and adaptive set of strategies, based on a                                                  Florida: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis;
     set of agreed triggers that can start the     References                                    285–310.
     managed retreat process allowing enough       Boston, J. and Lawrence, J. (2017) The Case   Vandenbeld, A. and Macdonald, J. 2013
     time before thresholds are reached, rather    for New Climate Change Adaptation Funding     Fostering community acceptance of managed
     than a fixed and single temporal solution     Instruments. Institute for Governance and     retreat in New Zealand, in Jean Palutikof,
                                                   Policy Studies & New Zealand Climate Change   Sarah L. Boulter, Andrew J. Ash, Mark
     or one that occurs after the damage has       Research Institute, Victoria University of    Stafford Smith, Martin Parry, Marie Waschka
     been sustained. To date, examples of          Wellington, Wellington                        and Daniela Guitart. Eds. Climate Adaptation
     successful larger-scale relocations of        Fletcher CS, Taylor BM, Rambaldi AN, Harman   Futures, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, West Sussex,
     communities tend to be reactive and crisis    BP, Heyenga S, Ganegodage KR, Lipkin F,       United Kingdom

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     ISSUE 209                                                                                                                              11
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