Coastal communities in Tasmania are affected by coastal hazards either through the loss of public amenity or through impacts on private land. State and local government can support private land owners and the community to reimagine futures for their coastal communities by providing information that will assist with their understanding of the risks presented by coastal hazards and building their resilience.

Through the Tasmanian Coastal Adaptation Decision Pathways (TCAP) project, state and local government have worked with seven vulnerable coastal communities to understand their risks and develop appropriate adaptation responses. Through TCAP, the Tasmanian Government is supporting private land owners to understand and manage risks through the collection of evidence and the provision of information.

Information provided to Councils and communities includes inundation and erosion maps, an analysis of assets at risk, and the cost of those risks. This information has been provided to communities along with the overarching principles of TCAP, which are: governments (at any level) cannot subsidise people to live in hazardous locations and; private risks associated with coastal hazards are the responsibility of private land owners and need to be managed. The seven communities involved in TCAP have been overwhelmingly receptive to the information provided, and it has established a sound base for ongoing planning between the communities and local and state government about coastal adaptation.

This presentation discusses the TCAP approach to developing understanding within communities of public and private risk from coastal hazards and how this approach has been received by the participating communities.