EMS Webinar: Adaptation to sea-level rise: toward transformations?

Speaker: Gonéri Le Cozannet, the French Geological Survey (BGRM)

The webinar will be held as Zoom webinar:

• Wednesday, 8 April 2026 at 4pm CEST
• Registration will become available in early March

Abstract

In the 6th Assessment Report of the IPCC, coastal adaptation to sea-level rise has been identified as an urgent challenge for two reasons: first, high-tide chronic flooding is emerging now as a new hazard in a number of locations and represents a nuisance for human activities. Second, adaptation to sea-level rise takes time to be implemented, sometimes up to decades, which means that some adaptation responses relevant to 2050 or 2070 should be ideally implemented now. Adaptation responses include protection, relocation, accommodation measures or a combination of those, which all have different effectiveness, feasibility, co-benefits, trade-offs and limits depending on the local context. Enabling measures such as finance, governance, and leadership are essential to facilitate adaptation. However, existing assessments indicate a growing adaptation gap between needs and implementation. In conclusion, I propose that coastal adaptation to sea-level rise can be framed as an opportunity to enhance coastal zone management and advance efforts in mitigation, sustainable development, and addressing coastal ecosystem decline.

About the speaker

Gonéri Le Cozannet is researcher at BGRM, the French Geological Survey, since 2006, in the area of coastal impacts of sea-level rise and adaptation. He has contributed to the 6th IPCC report as a lead author and is member of the french climate change committee.