How ocean communities adapt to the impacts of climate change: Proposal for a bank of cases

The impacts of climate change on the ocean around the world are daunting.  These include sea level rise, melting of ice sheets (Antarctic and Greenland most notably), opening of new shipping routes (Arctic), biodiversity disruption, stronger and more frequent hurricanes and increased acidification.  Human societies have never before been confronted with such challenges in such a short timeframe.

To help societies in making appropriate adaptation it is crucial to document behavioral changes, such as new projects (e.g., land planning, agricultural changes, fishing regulation), investments (e.g., urban and coastal development) and shifts in values – at various levels of granularity (e.g., local (city/small island), national (large country coast line) and regional (sea basin)).

Cases would be documented with standardized information that outlines and traces historical developments, current trends and foresighted transformations.  Such information could take the form of written reports, videos and so on.  The resulting bank of cases, regularly updated, would be accessible to all interested parties, e.g., government authorities, NGOs, social scientists, businesses and the general public.

The Université Internationale de la Mer is prepared to initiate such a project on a pilot basis, jointly with a select group of willing academic and scientific institutions.  This project would require minimum funding from foundations, international bodies or other organisations.  If you are interested in talking about possibly working together on something like this, please come to see me at my poster.