Incorporating equity into sea-level rise planning: perspectives from practitioners across California
Publication Date
5-2024
Abstract
Scholars along with national and state governments have increasingly made calls to incorporate an equity lens into climate adaptation processes and into sea-level rise planning specifically. However, the language used in these high-level policies remains vague. There remains a need to learn from practitioners on the ground about the challenges and opportunities for effectively incorporating an equity lens into sea-level rise adaptation and planning efforts. I conducted interviews with 17 individuals who are working within their agencies or organizations to advance equity across the California coast along with a review of 17 California coastal policy documents to gain insights into experiences and best practices for incorporating equity into sea-level rise planning. Practitioners identified several best practices including meaningful, consistent, and funded collaboration with communities; centering people – rather than assets or infrastructure – in SLR vulnerability assessments; and making strategic investments to build community capacity to engage in planning processes. They also highlighted several barriers to advancing equity including the absence of diversity in coastal professions and the lack of funding, training, and community capacity to support effective community engagement. I distilled the findings from this work into an accessible equity guide that coastal professionals can use to forward equity within their coastal planning efforts.