Sea Level Rise in Europe: Governance Context and Challenges

Abstract. Sea-level rise (SLR) will affect Europe’s coasts over the coming decades and beyond giving rise to challenges for governing coastal and marine areas. Progress is being made in adapting to and addressing these challenges at both national and sub-national levels across all major European sea basins. This chapter assesses progress in coastal adaptation governance in Europe by, first, characterizing the socio-economic and political contexts in European sea basins, and then reviewing coastal adaptation relevant policy frameworks in place at regional and national levels within each of these sea basins. Regional frameworks reviewed consist in Regional Sea Conventions and are assessed for their legal status and their inclusion of SLR information. National coastal policy frameworks reviewed include national adaptation plans focusing on coastal areas and marine spatial planning instruments for all European member states, as well as public financing arrangements for coastal adaptation, focusing on flood risk reduction measures. Key national policies for coastal adaptation are assessed for which coastal hazards they address, the extent to which they incorporate sea-level rise information, and their inclusion of SLR specific adaptation measures. Finally, the chapter presents governance challenges that arise due to the complexity of adaptation to SLR, i.e., time horizon and uncertainty, cross-scale and cross-domain coordination, and equity and social vulnerability, and discusses examples illustrating how each of these challenges are being addressed in different European sea basins. The chapter finds that for across all basins, regional policy frameworks generally do not include specific provisions for SLR or coastal adaptation, while at the national level, significant progress on SLR governance is being made. For all basins except for the Black Sea, all countries have reported observed and future SLR hazards, and have adopted adaptation strategies. The inclusion of adaptation measures specific to SLR is less advanced, as most sea basins have at least one country that does not include specific SLR adaptation measures in either their adaptation strategies or marine spatial plans. Regarding SLR governance challenges, key examples for how these are being addressed include approaches for incorporating flexibility into coastal planning, e.g., Dynamic Adaptation Pathways in the Netherlands, or dike crest widening in Germany, as well as, co-development of nature-based adaptation solutions in Italy. Examples for addressing equity and social vulnerability challenges include the emerging issue of climate ligation illustrated through several court cases on liability of major carbon emitters for SLR-related damages.