Mapping Coastal Erosion Disadvantage in Scotland, Lightning Talk (7 min)

London, Ontario

Despite accelerated rates of coastal erosion and growing coastal populations, global understanding of the relative resilience of communities to coastal erosion is limited yet social justice and climate justice are key emerging issues of concern for governments. For the first time in the UK, using Scotland as an exemplar, this work aims to couple GIS analysis of anticipated erosion risk with consideration of the social vulnerability of Scotland’s communities, to produce Coastal Erosion Disadvantage maps. A Social Vulnerability Classification Index was derived using a series of deprivation and context-specific indicators. The analysis also compared coastal communities with the Scottish average in terms of vulnerability, as well as a worst-case scenario of a “High Emissions Scenario”, and no future maintenance of current coastal defences. This yielded impactful results which will hopefully be a catalyst for further assessments of social vulnerability to erosion for at risk communities.

https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/wlgisday/2021/lightningtalks/12