Adapting to Climate Change on the Coasts of Ireland: Lessons from California: How the Pacific can enlighten the Atlantic?

Abstract: Coastal areas throughout the world are vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate. The warming of the world’s oceans, and the consequent rise in sea levels, will result in more severe coastal flooding, in accelerated erosion, and in the increased occurrence of extreme weather events. The large proportion of the world’s population who reside within close proximity of the coast will face serious challenges in dealing with the predicted changes to our coastlines. Due to its location on the periphery of the North Atlantic Ocean, and being a country with a large concentration of development located in coastal areas, Ireland will be exceptionally susceptible to the impacts of climate change. Ireland’s ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change in coastal areas is hampered by the lack of a clear national coastal management policy framework, by weaknesses in its adaptation policies, and by a tendency to prefer the use of engineering coastal protection measures. The state of California in the U.S is widely considered a leader in terms of coastal climate change adaptation and it can offer many valuable lessons for Ireland on how Ireland might improve its preparedness for coastal climate risks. Using an in-depth analysis of coastal climate change adaptation planning in both Ireland and California, this thesis will critically examine California’s responses to dealing with coastal climate risk and will assess what viable lessons can be used to overcome Ireland’s challenges in responding to the impacts of climate change in coastal areas.