Adaptation to Sea Level Rise – Lessons from Community-based Adaptation to Tidal Flooding Caused by Land Subsidence due to Earthquake

  • SDG9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
  • SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
Motoharu Onuki
Graduate School of Frontier Sciences
Graduate Program in Sustainability Science Associate Professor
A possibility of mass migration is discussed as a countermeasure for climate change-induced sea level rise in low-lying Small Island Developing States (SIDS). However, due to the slow onset of a sea-level rise, there is a lack of case studies that examine actual impact and potential adaptation strategies.

In Tubigon, Bohol, the Philippines, several coral islands are now experiencing tidal flooding due to land subsidence caused by the Bohol earthquake in 2013, not by a climate change-induced sea level rise. By drawing an analogy between climate-induced sea-level rise and earthquake-induced land subsidence in terms of their tidal flooding effects, we will identify and evaluate various potential community-based adaptation strategies for tidal flooding in these islands. Based on lessons learned from the real adaptation cases, we are also trying to discuss and challenge the mass migration theory.

Flooding in high tide
Onuki, M., Jamero, L. M.
Adaptation by community members
Onuki, M., Jamero, L. M.

Research collaborators

- Miguel Esteban, Project Associate Professor, Graduate Program in Sustainability Science, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences

Related publications

- Jamero, M. L., Onuki, M., Esteban, M., Billones-Sensano, X. K., Tan, N., Nellas, A., & Valenzuela, V. P. (2017). Small-island communities in the Philippines prefer local measures to relocation in response to sea-level rise. Nature Climate Change, 7(8), 581-586.
- Jamero, L. M., Esteban, M., & Onuki, M. (2016). Potential in-Situ Adaptation Strategis for Climate-Related Sea-Level Rise: Insights from a Small Islands in The Philippines Experiencing Earthquake Induced Land Subsidence. Int. J. Sustain. Futur. Hum. Secur, 47, 44-53.

Contact

  • Email: onuki[at]edu.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp
    ※[at]=@
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