Attitudes toward disaster-prevention risk in Japanese coastal areas: analysis of civil preference

Abstract

Facing potential coastal disasters such as storm surges, storm waves, and tsunamis, Japan has planned the construction of coastal structures such as seawalls or breakwaters along its coastal areas. However, some conflicts exist among the public whether such constructions should be undertaken or whether the natural coast should be conserved. This study uses a choice experiment to investigate opinions of coastal citizens about (1) the acceptable loss of coastal wildlife species as a tradeoff for seawalls; (2) the willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation of coastal wildlife as a compromise for disaster risk reduction; (3) the influence on popular preferences in coastal management of individual characteristics, such as frequency of visiting the sea and public recognition of disaster risk; and (4) civil trust in scientific information. The survey was conducted among 7496 respondents in municipalities around the Japanese coast. As a result, the acceptable loss of coastal wildlife species was 18.7 %. The marginal WTP for conserving the coastal wildlife was 680.95 JPY per percent in the number of species per capita. We found that people who frequently visit the sea preferred ecosystem conservation and disliked seawall construction, whereas people strongly recognizing disaster risks preferred seawall construction. Furthermore, we found that civil trust in scientific information affects civil preferences regarding coastal management. Our study indicates the need to reduce negative effects of coastal constructions on coastal ecosystems and to consider other options, such as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction. It also indicates the social influences of raising 123Nat Hazards (2016) 82:209-226 DOI 10.1007/s11069-016-2210 public trust in scientific information to enable citizens to make better decisions regarding coastal management.

Preference Heterogeneity of Coastal Gray, Green, and Hybrid Infrastructure against Sea-Level Rise: A Choice Experiment Application in Japan

“…Choice experiments, which are one of the stated preference methods, allow researchers to consider the tradeoffs among ESSs [50,51]. Thus, choice experiments have been recently applied to coastal research [46,52], providing information regarding some changes in coastal settings and asking their most preferred options. Following this trend, this project applied choice experiments to clarify people's preferences toward coastal ESSs and their tradeoffs by jointly considering several important attributes for different hypothetical coastal settings (Figure 3).…”

“…A study conducted in New Jersey found that in coastal people's perceptions of coastal infrastructure, nature-based approaches (i.e., wetlands and dunes) are preferable to gray infrastructure (revetments and groins) [45]. In particular, people in Japan who frequently visit the sea prefer to conserve the shoreline, which provides multiple ESSs [46].…”

Understanding Preference Differences Among Individuals for the Reduction in Flood Risk by Green Infrastructure

“…In the literature of environmental valuation, several studies using the stated preference approach try to understand preferences over uncertain outcomes (Roberts et al 2008). There are several studies that use discrete choice experiments in this context (Glenck and Colombo 2013;Imamura et al 2016;Glatte et al 2019). Imamura et al (2016) examined people's attitudes toward disaster-prevention risk in coastal areas using a discrete choice experiment.…”

Multiple disasters management: Lessons from the Fukushima triple events

“…From the standpoint of disaster management, mitigating the impact of future tsunamis by building embankments is essential. The government has already invested several hundred billion yen in dike construction around disaster areas (Ishiwatari and Sagara, 2012;Imamura et al, 2016). Badly damaged prefectures such as Fukushima, Miyagi, and Iwate have been constructing dikes and increasing the height, width, and in some cases the length of seawalls since the disaster.…”