Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ITHACA (planned relocatIon as adapTation in a cHAnging ClimAte)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2024-04-30
As climate change impacts intensify, planned relocation is gaining traction as a preventive measure to reduce people’s exposure to disasters and environmental change by supporting them to move permanently away from high-risk areas. Given the potentially negative impacts it can have on relocated communities and its high financial costs, it is often considered an option of last resort, when protecting socio-ecological systems appears no longer possible, either technically, socially, or economically. Yet, with climate change increasing coastal and river flood risk in Europe, planned relocation might turn into the ‘least worst’ option.
Planned relocation has been understudied compared to other forms of climate-related human mobility like migration and displacement. Moreover, it has been mostly implemented in a reactive and a case-by-case way, with no overarching policies guiding these processes. As a result, we still have little understanding on how planned relocations can be used in the context of climate change adaptation and how they should be governed, managed, funded or supported in normative instruments.
The ITHACA project aimed at contributing theoretically and empirically to the emerging literature on climate-induced planned relocation by: i) uncovering the distinct institutional and governance challenges in the anticipatory employment of planned relocation in a changing climate; ii) providing evidence of the emerging policy and practice of planned relocation as adaptation in Europe; iii) developing a framework for supporting policy-making in the implementation of anticipatory planned relocation measures; iv) energising academic attention on climate-induced planned relocation, and stimulating discussions on its employment beyond vulnerable developing countries.
Planned relocation has been understudied compared to other forms of climate-related human mobility like migration and displacement. Moreover, it has been mostly implemented in a reactive and a case-by-case way, with no overarching policies guiding these processes. As a result, we still have little understanding on how planned relocations can be used in the context of climate change adaptation and how they should be governed, managed, funded or supported in normative instruments.
The ITHACA project aimed at contributing theoretically and empirically to the emerging literature on climate-induced planned relocation by: i) uncovering the distinct institutional and governance challenges in the anticipatory employment of planned relocation in a changing climate; ii) providing evidence of the emerging policy and practice of planned relocation as adaptation in Europe; iii) developing a framework for supporting policy-making in the implementation of anticipatory planned relocation measures; iv) energising academic attention on climate-induced planned relocation, and stimulating discussions on its employment beyond vulnerable developing countries.
Work was conducted via 5 work packages (WPs), of which WP1 was devoted to the management of the project and WP2 to maximise the two-way transfer of knowledge between the fellow and the host.
WP3 was devoted to data collection and analysis in both the principal case study (Piemonte Region, Italy) and in the shadow case studies. Initially, the project only included Austria as a shadow case study, but its scope was broadened to also include Portugal and the United Kingdom thanks to the collaboration established with another MSCA fellow based at Wageningen University. WP4 developed a framework for interrogating how considerations of distributive, corrective, and procedural justice inform the emerging policy and practice of planned relocation in Europe and was applied to the four case studies. WP4 further contributed to the literature on transformational adaptation by discussing challenges for adaptation research and practice to include considerations of values in radical adaptation measures (e.g. planned relocation). Finally, WP5 implemented a diverse set of activities to ensure project’s outcomes were effectively disseminated, exploited and communicated during the whole duration of the project.
Key results achieved by ITHACA include:
• 2 first authored papers to be submitted to high-impact open access journals: “Planning for just relocations in Europe in time of climate change: a comparative study” and “Taking values seriously for transformational climate change adaptation”.
• The development of a framework that identifies justice aspects pertinent to planning for and implementing relocation;
• A spatialised database on planned relocation interventions in Piemonte to feature in the Region’s open access Geoportal;
• The inclusion of a case study on planned relocation in Piemonte in the Climate-Adapt platform of the European Environmental Agency;
• A chapter on “Strategic relocation of communities, infrastructure and economic activities” in the Technical guide on sea level rise prepared under the UNFCCC Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage;
• The organisation of a policy workshop on planned relocation in Torino (IT) bringing together around 200 participants, both in-person and on-line;
The results of ALTHEA were disseminated at three international conferences (2023 Adaptation Futures, Canada; 2024 Society for Risk Analysis -Europe, Greece; ECMN24 Environmental Changes and Migration: Bridging Disciplines for a New Research Agenda, Belgium). Furthermore, an ITHACA special session “Planning for the worst: European experiences of relocation in the context of flood risk” was organised at the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis -Europe Conference.
Communication activities included public in person events like a conference at the Science Museum in Trento, Italy (20/11/2023), where the researcher contextualised human mobility, including planned relocation, within climate negotiations, and a Facebook live event in the context of the “Bringing to light- Women Scientists for Climate” award, where the researcher presented the ITHACA project (10/02/2023).
WP3 was devoted to data collection and analysis in both the principal case study (Piemonte Region, Italy) and in the shadow case studies. Initially, the project only included Austria as a shadow case study, but its scope was broadened to also include Portugal and the United Kingdom thanks to the collaboration established with another MSCA fellow based at Wageningen University. WP4 developed a framework for interrogating how considerations of distributive, corrective, and procedural justice inform the emerging policy and practice of planned relocation in Europe and was applied to the four case studies. WP4 further contributed to the literature on transformational adaptation by discussing challenges for adaptation research and practice to include considerations of values in radical adaptation measures (e.g. planned relocation). Finally, WP5 implemented a diverse set of activities to ensure project’s outcomes were effectively disseminated, exploited and communicated during the whole duration of the project.
Key results achieved by ITHACA include:
• 2 first authored papers to be submitted to high-impact open access journals: “Planning for just relocations in Europe in time of climate change: a comparative study” and “Taking values seriously for transformational climate change adaptation”.
• The development of a framework that identifies justice aspects pertinent to planning for and implementing relocation;
• A spatialised database on planned relocation interventions in Piemonte to feature in the Region’s open access Geoportal;
• The inclusion of a case study on planned relocation in Piemonte in the Climate-Adapt platform of the European Environmental Agency;
• A chapter on “Strategic relocation of communities, infrastructure and economic activities” in the Technical guide on sea level rise prepared under the UNFCCC Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage;
• The organisation of a policy workshop on planned relocation in Torino (IT) bringing together around 200 participants, both in-person and on-line;
The results of ALTHEA were disseminated at three international conferences (2023 Adaptation Futures, Canada; 2024 Society for Risk Analysis -Europe, Greece; ECMN24 Environmental Changes and Migration: Bridging Disciplines for a New Research Agenda, Belgium). Furthermore, an ITHACA special session “Planning for the worst: European experiences of relocation in the context of flood risk” was organised at the 2023 Society for Risk Analysis -Europe Conference.
Communication activities included public in person events like a conference at the Science Museum in Trento, Italy (20/11/2023), where the researcher contextualised human mobility, including planned relocation, within climate negotiations, and a Facebook live event in the context of the “Bringing to light- Women Scientists for Climate” award, where the researcher presented the ITHACA project (10/02/2023).
ITHACA importantly focused on an understudied, yet increasingly relevant, form of human mobility in the context of climate change. It did so in the European context, thus contributing to bridge the current geographical gap in the literature where experiences of planned relocation from North America or the Global South countries tend to be more represented. Moreover, the specific focus on preventive interventions allowed for complementing the emerging evidence of relocation in Europe, where observed experiences have been mostly reactive.
The focus on preventive planned relocation also enabled to draw insights on how this measure can be used in the context of climate change adaptation and to link it to challenges towards transformation. By developing and applying a framework for interrogating how justice considerations and understanding are embedded in relocation policies, the project further contributed to move from conceptual discussions around justice to the practical implications they have on communities adapting to a changing climate.
The project had a significant impact at the policy level. The results of the research collaboration between the Piedmont region and the ITHACA project were taken up in the revision of the regional regulation on relocations to be published in the first half of 2025. The collaboration also produced a spatialised database of planned relocation interventions implemented to date that will feature as an open access resource in the Region’s Geoportal . Finally, the project allowed for raising awareness on planned relocation as an adaptation measure, and on the experience of the Piemonte Region in particular, through the policy workshop organised in Torino in December 2024. The workshop brought together around 200 participants, both in-person and on-line, from public authorities in Piedmont and beyond.
The project was awarded the “2023 Bringing to light- Scientist for Climate Award (Women in Science)” by the Italian Ecofuturo Magazine.
The focus on preventive planned relocation also enabled to draw insights on how this measure can be used in the context of climate change adaptation and to link it to challenges towards transformation. By developing and applying a framework for interrogating how justice considerations and understanding are embedded in relocation policies, the project further contributed to move from conceptual discussions around justice to the practical implications they have on communities adapting to a changing climate.
The project had a significant impact at the policy level. The results of the research collaboration between the Piedmont region and the ITHACA project were taken up in the revision of the regional regulation on relocations to be published in the first half of 2025. The collaboration also produced a spatialised database of planned relocation interventions implemented to date that will feature as an open access resource in the Region’s Geoportal . Finally, the project allowed for raising awareness on planned relocation as an adaptation measure, and on the experience of the Piemonte Region in particular, through the policy workshop organised in Torino in December 2024. The workshop brought together around 200 participants, both in-person and on-line, from public authorities in Piedmont and beyond.
The project was awarded the “2023 Bringing to light- Scientist for Climate Award (Women in Science)” by the Italian Ecofuturo Magazine.