The most significant barrier to successful adaptation is not design. Rather, it is the lack of community engagement that provides input into design and gives government the social license to move forward with adaptation.

 

Current conversations about adaptation and sea level rise have mostly been between experts and community leaders. As a result adaptation to the impacts of sea level rise is a poorly understood topic among citizens. When made public adaptation impacts and solutions are often sensationalized focussing on catastrophic events and expensive price tags reflective of scales and solutions not relevant to the Metro Vancouver context.