Social networks and their importance for dealing with climate change in coastal areas: an agent-based approach

Especially coastal areas are highly vulnerable to possible consequences of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal flooding and extreme weather events. Therefore, dealing with climate change is a major challenge for many coastal regions. On the other hand, climate change provides new local opportunities, especially regarding the promotion of renewable energies. To implement local policies sustainably, it is important to understand how coastal inhabitants perceive, communicate and deal with climate change, and how they interact with each other.

This study is investigating social networks and their importance for the opinion formation about and the individual and collective responses to climate change in coastal areas. In February and March 2014, qualitative interviews have been conducted with coastal inhabitants in North Frisia, Germany. Further research focuses on applying agent-based modelling to the social process of coastal inhabitants' implementation of climate change measures.