A strategy for monitoring systemic vulnerability to marine erosion and flooding

Littoralisation, or the concentration of people and activities in coastal areas, associated with the intrinsic mobility of coasts and with the context of climate change, tends to increase the vulnerability of coastal areas. This article presents a new interdisciplinary approach towards the concept of vulnerability that makes it possible to move beyond the nature/society dichotomy, and an inter-sectorial researcher-manager method for the development of a series of monitoring indicators for the four components of systemic vulnerability: hazards, stakes, management and representations. These indicators are precursors of an integrated observatory that will act as a source of data for research and inform public policy for coastal areas.Le phénomène de littoralisation du peuplement et des activités, associé à la mobilité intrinsèque des côtes et au contexte de changement climatique, tend à accroître la vulnérabilité des territoires côtiers. Cet article propose, d’une part, une approche interdisciplinaire renouvelée du concept de vulnérabilité permettant de dépasser la dichotomie nature/société. D’autre part, il présente une méthode intersectorielle chercheurs-gestionnaires de construction d’une série d’indicateurs de suivi des quatre composantes de la vulnérabilité systémique (aléa, enjeux, gestion et représentations). Ces indicateurs préfigurent un observatoire intégré, à la fois source de données pour la recherche, et au service des politiques publiques pour les territoires côtiers

Une méthode de suivi de la vulnérabilité systémique à l’érosion et la submersion marines

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Systemic vulnerability of coastal territories to erosion and marine flooding: A conceptual and methodological approach applied to Brittany (France)

International audienceThe attractiveness of the coasts tends to increase their exposure to erosion and marine flooding risks. This exposure is exacerbated by the effects of climate change, in particular sea level rise. To contribute to strategic thinking on the vulnerability of coastal areas, it is essential to develop, share and collectively maintain relevant knowledge on risks. This article will present the thinking behind the setting up of a coastal risks observatory in Brittany, a region located in north-western France. It relies on a conceptual approach to systemic vulnerability based on four components: hazards, assets, management, and social representations. Hazards and assets underpin the notion of risk and tend to increase the vulnerability, management tends to mitigate it, and representations can play a part in increasing or decreasing it depending on the context. To understand and analyze this system of vulnerability, our approach is based on the generation of a set of 62 indicators combined into different types of indices. A web-GIS interface was developed to navigate through and map this system of vulnerability. The difficulties associated with this type of synthetic approach will be discussed, whether they are related to data availability, to the links between scientific research and operational territorial management requirements, or to an understanding of the dynamics of all of the vulnerability components and their interactions. Ultimately, the approach developed has been successful in mobilising scientific and operational stakeholders around the co-construction of a diagnosis of territories with regard to their vulnerability to coastal risks

Studies of "cliff erosion" and "coastal flooding" hazards (France, Greece, Canada)

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