A multicriteria decision analysis framework for developing and evaluating coastal retreat policy

Managed retreat may be a necessity for coastal communities as sea levels rise due to climate change. Selecting the right policy decisions and timing is difficult given the vested interests of communities and stakeholder groups and requires careful balancing of the benefits and risks associated with each management alternative. State and federal agencies often employ single‐objective optimization frameworks such as cost‐benefit analysis to analyze coastal relocation alternatives, but such methods are limited in their ability to balance competing value considerations and stakeholder demands. The use of a multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) methodology allows for such considerations to be quantified and evaluated, thereby improving planning and decision‐making for coastal retreat policies. This paper provides a strategic MCDA framework to evaluate coastal retreat policy that could be leveraged by at‐risk coastal communities. The MCDA is applied to a hypothetical coastal retreat scenario to visualize policy preferences and differing value considerations among stakeholders. This model can be used by government agencies to foster more sound, acceptable, and implementable coastal retreat policies and streamline the incorporation of this climate adaptation mechanism, which may be necessary for the near future. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:83–98. © 2022 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).