Planning for social justice, anticipating sea level rise: the case of Lake Macquarie, Australia

Climate change will affect communities in diverse and differentiated ways, so adaptation approaches must strive to address social justice in order to reduce inequality. This paper applies a social justice framework to examine planning for sea level rise in a densely populated coastal settlement in eastern Australia. The Lake Macquarie area is highly vulnerable to sea level rise with local adaptation planning already underway. An in-depth case study is presented that draws upon 19 interviews with key informants and householders and a structured document and media analysis from 12 newspapers. This qualitative data was analysed to identify: the range of understandings of what is just in planning for sea level rise; and key factors that influence perceptions of justice in planned retreat scenarios. The study concludes that there is a need for guiding principles in decision-making that explicitly address social justice in order to realise more equitable outcomes.