This volume reports on the research completed as part of the multi-year New England Climate Adaptation Project (NECAP), a partnership between the MIT Science Impact Collaborative, the US Government's National Estuarine Research Reserve System, four New England coastal towns, and the Consensus Building Institute. The first half of the book offers a series of chapters that explain how and why climate adaptation requires collective rather than individual risk management. It argues that most of the responsibility for responding to climate risks-including sea level rise, storm intensification, changing patterns of rainfall, and increasing temperature-must be taken by local and regional stakeholders.

Figures and Tables; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; PART I. 1. Helping Coastal Communities Prepare for and Respond to Climate Change-Related Risks; 2. Assessing the Social Landscape, Understanding the Readiness Challenge; 3. Why Public Engagement is Necessary to Enhance Local Readiness for Climate Adaptation; 4. NECAP Summary Risk Assessments: Creating Usable Knowledge to Help Communities Manage Climate Change Risks; 5. Enhancing Readiness to Adapt through Role-Play Simulations; 6. Reflecting on the New England Climate Adaptation Project-Lessons Learned; 7. Toward a Theory of Collective Risk Management; Appendix 1. Risk Assessment Projection: Barnstable; Appendix 2. Risk Assessment Projection: Cranston; Appendix 3. Risk Assessment Projection: Dover; Appendix 4. Risk Assessment Projection: Wells; Appendix 5. Workshop Pre-Questionnaires; Appendix 6. Workshop Post-Questionnaires; Appendix 7. Data Appendix: Workshop Survey and Public Poll Tables; PART II. Introduction; Stakeholder Assessment; Summary Risk Assessment; Role-play Simulation; Case Study; Public Poll Report; About the Authors; New England Climate Adaptation Project Partners; Index