Community Resilience to Climate Change-Induced Disasters in Northern Kaua'i: Perspectives following the April 2018 Floods

Abstract

As climate change-induced hazards increase risk of dloods, landslides, dires and other disasters, many communities are struggling with how to build resilience in the face of climate change. Even with a growing emphasis on resilience in academic and planning spheres, there remain questions regarding what resilience means, who directs resilience efforts, who benedits, and who is left out. Despite the increase in resilience plans, policies and resources, there is limited understanding of communitiesʻcollective experiences with, and conceptualizations of, resilience. In April 2018 the island of Kaua‘i received 50 inches of rain in approximately 24 hours causing dlooding across the island. Landslides closed the only highway traveled by over a million tourists annually and isolated several coastal communities in northern Kaua‘i for almost a year. These events and their aftermath forced island residents and policy makers to evaluate effective resilience building measures. Do efforts to increase resilience at the state, county, and community levels align with perceptions and values of resilience articulated by the community after the 2018 dloods? What do community perceptions and values teach us about expanding and operationalizing the concept of resilience? This research sought to determine community perceptions and values in resilience through 80 in depth interviews conducted after the dloods. Then, I performed a content analysis of community, county, and state plans and initiatives to determine both explicit dedinitions as well as implicit conceptualizations of resilience. Comparing how resilience is conceptualized and operationalized in management plans with community perceptions and values revealed challenges and barriers to operationalizing resilience as well as areas where further collaboration is needed to effectively plan for social-ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Key elements of resilience following the 2018 Kauaʻi dloods include the importance of community cohesion which may be threatened by tourism and demographic changes along with care and connection to the environment. Place based plans designed through participatory processes are most effective at conceptualizing resilience from a social-ecological perspective. This was evident in the The Hā ʻena to Hanalei Community Resilience Plan, where the resilient recovery plan provided a comprehensive way to operationalize social-ecological resilience through action planning rooted in transformation and learning cycles, rather than technological dixes for bouncing back. Overall, operationalizing social-ecological resilience can be more effective when utilized as a cohesive strategy across all phases of disaster management and planning under a framework of adaptive governance.