What is the problem addressed by the project?
Sea-level rise is a highly specific adaptation challenge: unlike temperatures and precipitation, sea levels will not cease rising once climate change has been stabilized at a specific global warming level l (e.g. 1.5°C or 2°C, as per the Paris Agreement). On the contrary, they will continue to rise for centuries. By mitigating climate change, we can stabilise sea-level rise rates, but not sea levels themselves. Consequently, adaptation to coastal flooding and erosion will be continuously ongoing for decades and centuries. However, broad-scale climate and decision-oriented services to address this need are lacking in Europe, as in other regions of the word. CoCliCo contributes to filling this gap by developing a European climate service for adaptation to future flooding in the context of sea-level rise.
Why is the problem important to society?
The latest IPCC report has reminded us that the costs of sea-level rise impacts in Europe are projected to increase by a factor of at least 10 during the 21st century. The literature published so far suggests that protection is cost-efficient along most urbanized coasts. However, for many rural low-lying coastal areas, a choice will need to be made between protection and some relocation associated with the restoration of coastal ecosystems. Such choices have long-term social legacies, and whatever the final choice made, there will be a need for climate services to inform decision-makers about the consequences of their choices in terms of costs, people exposed, and other potential co-benefits and trade-offs (see Policy Brief produced during the 1st review period).
Overall project objectives:
The objective of CoCliCo is to improve decision making on coastal risk management and adaptation by establishing an integrated core service dedicated to coastal adaptation to sea-level rise.
The main deliverable will be an open source platform informing users on present-days and future coastal risks.
CoCliCo is organised around three pillars: user interactions (WP1), platform design (WP2) and production of new data allowing to assess coastal flood risks (WP3-6).
