International Geographical Union – 18th/22nd July 2022 – Call for abstract submission

Please consider submitting an abstract to our session titled “Vulnerability of coastal areas to erosion and flooding risks“ during International Geographical Union (IGU) Centennial Congress that will take place in Paris from July 18 to 22, 2022.

This session is supported by the “Geography of the Sea, Coasts and Islands” commission of the French National Committee of Geography (CNFG).

Session description: (15 min presentation and 10 min questions)

Coastal erosion and flooding hazards often occur suddenly, at the time of extreme weather and sea events. Moreover, they tend to increase in the current context of climate change. These increasing hazards are met with issues that are increasingly concentrated on the coasts. Coastal risks are born and multiply as a result. While work on hazards and issues is fundamental, the concept of vulnerability offers additional elements for the analysis of this problem. The scientific literature on the subject is abundant. According to a widely adopted understanding, vulnerability refers to the capacity of populations and areas to adapt to hazards.

Vulnerability is also specific to the context of each territory, intimately linked to its history, its use and its population. In this sense, it has an eminently geographical character, as it is closely linked to places (place-based).

They are interwoven between geological time and the time of meteorological and marine events for hazards; they integrate the historical scale for built-up areas; they stretch between the short time of the political mandate and the long time of sustainable development for management and adaptation; they are based on human scales, both social and individual, for representations. These times cause the components of the vulnerability of coastal territories to fluctuate and draw vulnerability trajectories that can provide the basis for territorial foresight exercises.

Finally, the notion of vulnerability calls upon different disciplines, different methods and proposes a wide range of approaches to the issue.

In this session, we invite you to present your work (in French or in English), in particular on concepts and methods for understanding the vulnerability of coastal territories; operational approaches to monitoring vulnerability, analysing trajectories and scenarios; progress made through intersectoriality (between researchers and managers), interdisciplinarity, etc.

A field trip in the Hauts-de-France will be proposed at the end of the session.

Deadline for submissions of abstract to the thematic sessions is January 11, 2022.

Please click here for details on submissions

We are looking forward to meeting you in Paris! 

The conveners:

Pauline Letortu, Catherine Meur-Ferec, Caroline Rufin-Soler et Julien Guerrero.