Chapter 6. Towards sustainable decision making

In this chapter, the issue of sustainable decision making for successful coastal flood management is examined. In this setting, a key concept is sustainable development, defined as a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only today, but also for future generations. Sustainability for a given coastal system requires: (1) efficient protection to life and goods, and preserving socioeconomic development and opportunities of coastal areas; (2) maintenance of the environmental assets; and (3) short-, medium-, and long-term scenarios accounting for climate change effects. Different tools for sustainable decision making are presented. Design should be aimed at providing “continuity of daily life”—before, during, and after a flood, to avoid the detrimental social and economic impact that would otherwise result. A development that intrinsically provides flood resilience, through an adequate defense planning strategy, should give insurers and financiers the confidence to offer affordable, long-term policies, and investments. While planning coastal risk management strategies, coastal managers need to assess risk across a range of spatial and temporal scales. geographic information systems–based tools are one efficient way to support them in the decision-making process through a scenarios analysis starting from social, economic, and environmental information integrated into a common platform