Dr Aaron Opdyke is part of a team awarded a Sydney Environment Institute Collaborative Grant (AUD 20,305) which will compare grey and green infrastructure approaches to coastal adaptation in the Philippines. The team consists of Dr Justin See (Sydney Environment Institute), Dr Sophie Webber (School of Geosciences), Dr Sandra Seno Alday (Sydney Business School), and Ginbert Permejo Cuaton (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and Pearly Joy Peja (Eastern Visayas State University). The project titled, “Promises and Perils of Climate Buffer Infrastructures as Adaptation: Case Studies from the Philippines” will study two coastal projects in Tacloban in 2024.
The case studies will contrast hard infrastructure with nature-based approaches to coastal protection, examining the promises each holds for communities adapting to climate change – as well as the perils. The work will build understanding of how climate buffer infrastructures shape disaster risk and adaptation outcomes for coastal communities in the Global South.