Compass at Society of Decision Profesionals DAAG Conference

Managing Coastal Flood Risks from Sea-Level Rise in Vancouver, BC

Rising sea levels pose increasing flood risks for coastal communities. With a projected sea level rise of 1m by 2100, BC communities face the challenging task of understanding hazards, vulnerabilities, and consequences from flood events, and identifying suitable measures to protect multiple interests over large areas.

Christian Beaudrie will be speaking on this subject at The Society of Decision Professionals Decision Analysis Affinity Group (DAAG) conference in Vancouver on Friday, April 13th. His talk, entitled “The Times They Are A Changin’: A Structured Decision Making (SDM) Approach to Managing Coastal Flood Risks“ (in Session 6: Involving Communities of Interest in the Decision Process), will focus on how SDM was used to evaluate the impacts of sea level rise and select a short-list of mitigation options to reduce flood risks for Vancouver, British Columbia.

This work involved decision analysis and stakeholder workshops to identify values and interests that may be impacted, develop suitable mitigation alternatives, review trade-offs between alternatives, and develop recommendations to protect vulnerable neighbourhoods across the city. Risk tolerances were also elicited to establish required in-service dates and prioritize areas across the city. Multiple methods were used to communicate complex risk information and inform decision making including, multiple sea level rise and flood scenarios, spatial illustrations of flood extent, flood probability curves, and interactive decision support tools.

This approach breaks new ground in evaluating and communicating the implications of sea level rise on coastal communities, and provides a model for incorporating diverse stakeholder values when managing flood risks from a rising sea.

We hope to see you there!

The complete SDP 2018 DAAG conference program can be found here.

Registration details can be found here.

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