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Gray, Emily C

This report presents findings from a research project investigating the potential for buyouts as a strategy to adapt to natural hazards and climate change processes in coastal communities of Canada. The central research question the project sought to address is: How the case can be made for coastal buyouts as an adaptation strategy for natural hazards and climate change in Canada? To produce practical and relevant findings from the project, this was complemented with a secondary purpose: to produce recommendations for Canadian communities to begin looking at buyouts as an adaptation strategy. Literature review was undertaken to gain a sense of broader themes affecting the existing scape of hazard management and climate change adaptation in Canada. Through this, three key themes emerged: the traditional protectionist approach to hazard adaptation; the problem of ongoing development of vulnerable lands; and, the potential for buyouts to foster ecosystem services along the coast. Case studies of the states of New Jersey and New York were completed to gather a sense of the framework for implementing buyouts. These provided insights into how buyout programs have been implemented in practice, including some successes and gaps that can be used to inform buyout program structuring in Canada. Finally, informant interviews offered the opportunity to draw on the literature review and case study findings and to find ways of applying them to a Canadian context. These interviews highlighted barriers, opportunities, and needs for implementing buyouts in Canadian communities, through discussions informed by literature review themes and case studies.

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University of British Columbia. SCARP Graduating Projects; University of British Columbia. PLAN 547C

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0362572

Applied Science, Faculty of; Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of

Graduate

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