This presentation is part of the Nature Based Solutions Organized Session.
Climate-induced flooding along the shoreline of Lake Ontario caused significant damage to infrastructure and property in 2017 and 2019. As climate change continues to impact lake levels in unforeseen and uncertain ways, the region faces a threat from increased erosion, flooding, and low water levels. It is critical to establish dynamic adaptation strategies that make communities better prepared to face the impacts of climate change. Even with many on-going state-level initiatives such as the Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative (REDI), Coastal Lakeshore Economy and Resiliency Initiative (CLEAR) and the Great Lakes Action Agenda (GLAA) pushing for nature-based shorelines, ecosystem-based shoreline management and resilient land use practices, structural solutions such as engineered shorelines remain the most popular mitigation strategy for shoreline communities and property owners. This project uses detailed interviews with adaptation professionals, county and regional planners and natural resource managers along the shoreline to identify pertinent barriers to the adoption of non-structural solutions for coastal adaptation. Using a barrier-analysis approach developed by Moser and Ekstrom (2009) - we outline barriers at various stages of the adaptation process, from strategy selection to implementation. We find that informational and resource constraints, misaligned incentives, and institutional and legal hurdles prevent a widespread adoption of non-structural adaptation strategies and suggest ways to overcome these barriers through alternative approaches to traditional adaptation governance mechanisms.
