Managing coastal risks at the Wadden Sea: a societal perspective
Disaster Prevention and Management
ISSN: 0965-3562
Article publication date: 6 December 2017
Issue publication date: 2 January 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The trilateral Wadden Sea Region (WSR), extending from Den Helder in the Netherlands, along the German North Sea coast, to Esbjerg in Denmark, constitutes a unique but vulnerable coastal landscape. Vulnerability to environmental and societal risks is expected to increase in coming decades with encompassing new challenges such as demographic changes and conflicting uses of space, both on land and at sea. Meeting these challenges will require a shift toward an understanding of risk management as a social process, marking a significant departure from the dominant technical risk management paradigm. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In practice, this paradigm shift requires participatory stakeholder engagement, bringing together multiple and diverse perspectives, interests and concerns. This paper aims to support the implementation and expansion of enhanced social processes in coastal risk management by presenting a case study of participatory risk management process. Implemented in collaboration with a trilateral stakeholder partnership, the authors present a mixed-method approach which encouraged a joint, deliberate approach to environmental and societal risks within an overall framework.
Findings
The results enable the authors to deduce implications of participatory risk management processes for the WSR, wherein the partnership can act as a communicator and ambassador for an improved understanding of risk management as a social process.
Originality/value
In this context, the trilateral dimension, discussed here for the first time in relation with coastal risk management processes in the WSR, is emphasized as an efficient level that offers room for enhanced participatory and negotiation processes that are crucial for enhanced risk management processes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all Wadden Sea Forum members for the fruitful and inspiring discussions without which the insights and derived conclusions would not have been possible. The research underlying this paper received funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. 308438 (ENHANCE: Enhancing risk management partnerships for catastrophic natural hazards in Europe).
Citation
Gerkensmeier, B., Ratter, B.M.W., Vollmer, M. and Walsh, C. (2018), "Managing coastal risks at the Wadden Sea: a societal perspective", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-04-2017-0074
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited