Can Information Help Communities Adapt to Sea-level Rise? A Case Study from China

Sea levels are rising as a result of global warming. Adaptation is the only option to address the threats caused by sea level rise. Sea levels off the coasts of China have risen at rates higher than the world annual rate and Zhejiang Province has the highest rate in the country. Studies have shown that information provision plays an important role in both individual and institutional decision-making processes. This research aimed to assess how local decision-makers perceived sea-level rise and investigated the effects of information provision on decision-makers? perceptions and actions related to adaptation to sea-level rise in the coastal villages of Zhejiang Province. The sample group for this study was made up of local village leaders selected from 21 towns on islands in Zhejiang Province. Three kinds of towns (tourism towns, fishery towns and commercial towns) were chosen. In order to study the possible effects of information provision, a controlled experiment was designed. Subjects were randomly assigned to two experimental groups receiving an information brochure on sea-level rise and adaptation to it, or to a control group not receiving any such information. The experiment had three phases. The hypotheses to be tested were that the village without information and the other two villages with information would produce different outcomes while the two villages with information would produce similar outcomes. The results showed that local village leaders along the Zhejiang coast had little knowledge of global warming and sea-level rise. The study found that while some local village leaders in Zhejiang Province had a positive attitude towards adaptation to sea-level rise, most of them had a negative attitude towards taking specific policy action on this. More than half of them thought that it was the central government?s responsibility to take the necessary adaptation measures. The major finding of this study was that providing local decision-makers with information on sea-level rise and related adaptation could significantly improve their knowledge level, and positively change their attitude towards and awareness of sea-level rise adaptation, but would not lead to policy action.