Stakeholder assessment of coastal risks and mitigation strategies

Perceptions of coastal hazards and risks and support for mitigation strategies among three different stakeholder groups (experts, businesses, and community members) are compared and analyzed in Waikiki, Hawaii. A justification for research on Waikiki, a world renown tourist destination and its relevance to other coastal communities is provided. It is shown that the three groups perceive risks, such as hurricanes, storm surge, erosion, tsunamis, and other natural and man-made hazards, differently which in turn influences support for mitigation strategies such as sea walls, beach nourishment, elevating or relocating at-risk structures and the preferences as to who should pay for risk reduction strategies. Data were analyzed using basic inferential statistics, GLM regression and correspondence analysis. Correspondence analysis is a novel technique for studying the relationships between stakeholder attributes (demographic, political, etc.) and the level of support for coastal interventions. The implications for researchers, engineers and coastal planners working in at-risk coastal communities are described.