Adapting to coastal climate change: a guide for planners

Changes brought about by climate are already occurring and will intensify in future. This is likely to result in significant alteration of coastal ecosystems, coastal hazards, lifestyle, coastal resource users, water front property owners and coastal communities. This guide on adapting to coastal climate change has been developed to assist USAID missions and development partners to understand the diversity of climate change impacts expected to affect the coastal zone through the developing world and the options that exist for coastal planners and managers to assist coastal communities to begin to accept these impacts.

This guide is both a tool in itself and a link to other resources. The processes, tools and resources it contains are based on the inputs of numerous coastal planners, climate change experts and other development professionals 

The guide proposes an approach for assessing vulnerability to climate change and climate variability, developing and implementing adaptation options, and integrating options into programmes, development plans and projects at national and local level. This is known as a vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) approach. 

Steps in the V&A approach include:

• assessing vulnerability with a focus on diagnosis of climate change impacts, and current stresses and threats to coastal areas from development pressures and weak management
  
• selecting course of action with guidance on setting priorities and formulating adaptation goals, providing a list of 17 adaptation measures
  
• mainstreaming coastal adaptation into public planning and budgeting processes and policies at national, sub-national and local scales
  
• implementing adaptation with a focus on making adaptation plans operational and overcoming typical obstacles to successful implementation
  
• evaluating for adaptive management with a focus on evaluating the progress of the actions that are undertaken and adapting to changing conditions based on valid reasons and circumstances 

The guide emphasises throughout that the process of coastal planning and action is not radically changed by applying a climate lens.

[adapted from the authors]