Join us for a talk with Assistant Professor at University of Delaware AR Siders, on a talk regarding ethical dilemmas in relocation as climate change adaptation. Adaptation to climate change may redress, perpetuate, or create social injustices. While stakeholders agree that adaptation should be just, they disagree on how justice should be defined or pursued. This talk will describe several ongoing projects related to adaptation justice in the context of relocation as an adaptation strategy. This includes a critical assessment of gaps between justice theory and adaptation practice, including the difficulty in allocating resources that cause simultaneous harm and benefit; a case study of how adaptation administrator values create conflicts and inequities; a critique of voluntariness as a universal good; and a discussion of why efforts to predict future climate relocation may perpetuate injustices.

A.R. Siders is an Assistant Professor in the Disaster Research Center, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, and Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware. She is also a director of the Mangone Climate Change Science and Policy Hub. Her research focuses on climate adaptation decision-making: understanding how and why communities and governments decide when, where and how to adapt and how those decisions and decision-making processes affect risk reduction and equity. Recent projects have centered on managed retreat and adaptation justice.