Beliefs on the local effects of climate change: Causal attribution of flooding and shoreline retreat.

Authors

  • Sílvia Luís Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Investigação e de Intervenção em Psicologia Social http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2631-998X
  • Fabiana E.P. Freitas Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Departamento de Biologia & Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
  • Nuno Rodrigues Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Departamento de Biologia & Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
  • António J.A. Nogueira Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Departamento de Biologia & Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
  • Catarina Roseta-Palma Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Business Research Unit
  • Maria Luísa Lima Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Investigação e de Intervenção em Psicologia Social
  • Luísa Pinho Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
  • Filomena Cardoso Martins Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Departamento de Ambiente e Ordenamento & Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar
  • António Betâmio De Almeida Universidade de Lisboa (ULISBOA), Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisboa, Portugal
  • Góneri Le Cozannet Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
  • Vincent Jolivet ACTeon – Environment, Research & Consultancy
  • Ana I. Lillebø Universidade de Aveiro (UAVR), Departamento de Biologia & Centro de Estudos do Ambiente e do Mar

Keywords:

Causal attribution, risk perception, local individuals, stakeholders, Aveiro Lagoon, anthropogenic activities

Abstract

Adaptation to climate change is a process that should engage different participants, including not only researchers and technicians but also other stakeholders and local individuals, and, therefore, it is important to understand their beliefs on the local effects of climate change. Recent studies illustrate a linear relation between coastal distance and scepticism, which is lower in coastal zones than in inland. A possible explanation is that people living inland do not experience (or do not perceive) particular natural hazards as being caused by climate change, or attribute the natural hazards to other causes, apart from climate change. This might influence the relative importance of dealing with direct anthropogenic effects and planning adaptation to climate change. Therefore, the goal of this work was to explore this effect by comparing beliefs on the local effects of climate change in Aveiro region (Portugal), specifically in Baixo Vouga Lagunar (BVL, located in the inner side of Ria de Aveiro Coastal Lagoon, 10 km distance from the coast) with the nearby coastal zone between Esmoriz and Vagueira settlements. Stakeholders were interviewed and local individuals were surveyed in order to explore causal attributions towards relevant local environmental problems and compare with data available from the coastal zone. Natural hazards concerned flooding in BVL and shoreline retreat in the coastal zone. Results suggest that in BVL both stakeholders and local residents did not attribute local natural hazards mostly to climate change. However, in the coastal zone, local natural hazards were indeed mostly attributed to climate change. This attribution to climate change was further correlated to a higher risk perception of natural hazards in the coastal zone but not in BVL. Thereby, it is important to consider distance from the shoreline in order to promote local processes of adaptation to climate change.

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Revista da Gestão Costeira Integrada, Vol. 17, Nº1 - Setembro, 2017

Published

2017-12-07 — Updated on 2017-12-07

Versions

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Research Articles