Moving infrastructure in the face of a danger of submersion is a solution of last resort, according to our partner The Conversation.
Two successive storms – with winds exceeding 150 km/h causing significant damage and flooding by rising water tables – prompted the inhabitants of the village of Miquelon to choose this option.
This analysis was conducted by Xénia Philippenko, doctoral student on coastal societal adaptation to climate change.
Faced with rising sea levels, adaptation becomes necessary and inevitable: even if we reduce our greenhouse gas contributions, some mechanisms of change are already irreversible and we will have to respond and adapt to these upheavals.
The overseas territories and island territories located in the tropics are particularly sensitive to the consequences of climate change: one thinks particularly of the atolls of the Marshall Islands or the low islands of the Maldives, whose very existence is threatened.
Adapting to coastal risks
We generally distinguish four attitudes in the face of coastal risks: protecting oneself, adapting infrastructures and behaviours, supporting change with nature-based solutions;
finally, moving the infrastructure.
This last option is often difficult to implement technically, requiring expertise, funding and a consultation process between the various stakeholders.
The displacement is frequently badly accepted by the populations, as we have seen in Lacanau or Gouville-sur-Mer.
In recent years, however, scientists have emphasized the role of acceptability and perceptions in the success or failure of these coping strategies.
The archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon is located south of the Canadian island of Newfoundland © Google Map
There is nevertheless a French village overseas, in the archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, not far from Canada, where the process of displacement has already begun, with strong mobilization of the population throughout the various steps.
In Miquelon, living surrounded by water in a time of climate change
The village of Miquelon is located at water level, on a pebble strip, connecting two islands at higher altitudes: Cape Island and Miquelon.
The first inhabitants settled here at the end of the 17th century and in the 18th century;
they are mainly small-scale fishermen, settled closer to the sea, on the pebble line.
Between the 18th century and today, the village develops all along the coast, up to 600 souls.
Location of the village of Miquelon in the archipelago © Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-ND
In the 2000s, climate change caught up with them: events of submersion, storms and erosion became more frequent, more violent, and the village had to deal with increasingly recurrent damage.
In a context of rising sea levels, it is the disappearance of the isthmus, on which the village is located, which constitutes the main threat.
In 2014, French President François Hollande, passing through the archipelago, declared that Miquelon could disappear with the rise in sea level and announced the implementation of a coastal risk prevention plan (PPRL).
The village of Miquelon seen from the plane © Xénia Philippenko / BRGM (04/12/2018) CC BY-NC-ND
This regulatory tool serves in particular to regulate town planning in submersible zones, by prohibiting construction in the most vulnerable areas.
At the same time, the question of moving the village to a less exposed site is beginning to be raised.
The population and elected officials are protesting and making their opposition heard.
In 2018, during our first field mission as part of our doctoral research on the adaptation of the archipelago to climate change, the inhabitants were still fiercely opposed to the relocation of the village.
But in November 2018, two successive storms – with winds exceeding 150 km/h causing significant damage in the village and flooding by rising water tables – caused a reversal of opinion.
VIDEO:
France TV report on the damage caused by the storm of November 28, 2018
A few months later, in the summer of 2019, we conducted a questionnaire with 300 inhabitants of the archipelago to identify the perceptions of climate change and the preferences of the inhabitants for adaptation solutions.
The results in Miquelon are astonishing: 89% of those questioned say they are in favor of moving the village.
Accepting relocation, a first step towards adaptation
Several factors explain this result.
First, the establishment of the PPRL and the building ban alerted the population, sometimes generating tension.
Second, climate change has made the impacts of sea level rise and climate change more tangible.
A final factor strongly influenced the acceptability of the trip: the strong attachment of the inhabitants to their island leads them to a proactive attitude.
Having understood that staying in the historic village would not be possible in the long term, attachment to the territory has widened to the island more generally, orienting opinion towards moving despite the difficulties inherent in the situation.
The attachment to the territory, instead of being a brake as is often the case, has here been transformed into an opportunity to adapt.
Where to move?
But if the relocation is generally accepted, the displacement process will take time.
From 2019, decision-makers and residents are starting this process, the main question being: where to move?
The local authority proposes a trip to the Cap peninsula, but this one, very small and isolated, is not favored by the inhabitants who prefer the island of Miquelon, larger and connected to the neighboring island of Langlade.
In January 2020, during the visit of the Minister of Overseas Territories at the time, Annick Girardin, the inhabitants demonstrate and visually demarcate the plots of land they wish to invest for the new village.
VIDEO:
France TV report during Annick Girardin's visit in 2020
The new mayor of the village, Franck Detcheverry is at the heart of the process.
It multiplies the requests for aid from the State and the local authority;
he calls for solutions for young adults unable to build or buy a house.
Between 2019 and 2022 several actions are carried out by the mayor, accompanied over the months by the elected representatives of the archipelago, the prefecture, the services of the State and the local authority, as well as by various groups of experts and scientific: modification of the territorial development and urban planning scheme to allow construction at height;
development of a flood prevention action programme;
discussion meetings between decision-makers and technicians to discuss the relocation of the village;
mobilization of elected officials at the national level;
finally, workshops and exchanges with the population.
Since the end of 2021, the "Territorial Workshop" support system has thus begun to think about and imagine the new village: this process aims to promote the emergence of a territorial strategy in collaboration with local actors and with the support of a team of experts, relying on the strengths and dynamics of the region.
Our “COASTAL” file
The relocation of Miquelon has therefore been initiated, but still faces many challenges – financial, legislative, political, technical and environmental.
Adapting requires accepting change, but also being aware that a strategy can take decades to materialize.
Meanwhile, sea level rise and its associated impacts continue.
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This analysis was written by Xénia Philippenko, doctoral student on coastal societal adaptation to climate change at the BRGM (Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières). Ywenn De La Torre (BRGM) is co-author of this article.
The original article was published on The Conversation website.
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