Why did we undertake this study?
Coastal communities are facing unprecedented risks due to population growth, urbanisation, and climate change. Innovation is key to supporting transformational change; yet is not a novel concept in the coastal zone. Past innovations have rarely considered social and ecological systems or reflected best practice integrated coastal zone management. Consequently, a deeper focus on human-environmental interactions and feedbacks to better understand the capacity for innovation is called for. This study met this call.
How was it done?
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 68 coastal and community key informants in Australia’s most rapidly growing coastal communities. Key informants came from coastal management and community service sectors in which responding to vulnerability (ecological and social respectively) is core to their vocation. Interviews discussed themes of vulnerability, coastal governance, innovation, and community need. Inductive and deductive thematic analysis of interview transcripts was undertaken.
What did we find?
Despite the high levels of individual capacity held by vulnerability managers, and the presence of good-practice policy, most innovations were limited in scale and insufficient for transformative change.
Barriers to innovation were immense and reflected familiar barriers to best practice governance and change generally. Nevertheless, a small number of exemplars avoided barriers by:
- Implementing multi-sectoral, integrated strategies that were mutually beneficial and reflected a broad commitment to sustainability
- Drawing upon extensive place-based or sectoral experience (>20 years)
Individual and community capacity for innovation was built prior to crisis events and consisted of experience/knowledge, extensive and diverse social networks, and resource mobilisation skills.
Implications
The study uncovered critical attributes that support innovation – including individual and community capacity, and the ability to span boundaries (work across sectors) to achieve common, sustainability focussed, goals. Importantly, the conditions that facilitate innovation are available to many communities. An emphasis on physical coastal vulnerability (neglecting social vulnerability) impedes cross-sectoral collaboration. For integration to work a long-term vision of the coast is needed; one that addresses its social-ecological conditions more comprehensively, to develop systemic, rather than single sector/impact, solutions
Learn more
The full paper is not currently available online. Keep an eye on the project website for updates.
Citation: Elrick-Barr C,Thomsen D, Smith T (forthcoming). Governance innovations in the coastal zone: Towards social-ecological resilience, Environmental Science and Policy.
You can download a pdf version of this summary.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Discovery Projects Funding Scheme (Project FT180100652). This work contributes to Future Earth Coasts, a Global Research Project of Future Earth. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government, Australian Research Council or Future Earth Coasts.