infrastructure

Abstract The importance of community members being fully informed about infrastructure projects and the possibility of public participation is evident. The specific case of the gas pipeline project that will be executed by the company Eagle LNG on the island of Aruba was examined for this research to investigate the significance of communicating risks surrounding infrastructure projects to the public and whether this affects the permission that the public gives to a company to execute this project in their community. The research thus looked at how risk communication influences the social license to operate of the Eagle LNG gas pipeline in Aruba. The stakeholders that were identified as being affected by or having an influence on this specific project consisted of a government department, a non-governmental organization, and inhabitants living near the proposed gas pipeline. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these stakeholders using interview guides tailored to the expertise and the topics that the different stakeholder groups are knowledgeable about. The lack of credibility and partnership from Eagle LNG with the stakeholders was the main issue that influenced most stakeholders to not give the social license to operate to this company. Stakeholders mention not receiving information from the company, not being approached by the company, and no opportunities for public consultation. Further research should focus on the role of stakeholder mapping in risk communication and what effects this has on the social license to operate. 

Part of the larger The impacts of climate change on Bonaire (2022-present) report available here.
 

Summary

This study aims to identify the extent to which Bonaire’s buildings and critical infrastructure will be directly impacted by future climate change, focusing on floods and storms. To do so, we combine open-source information on exposure and vulnerability with locally acquired detailed information through interviews and fieldwork. We introduce a new method, called neighbourhood sampling, to produce accurate local data on building values to overcome data scarcity. The results show that in 2050 a 1/100 flood event may affect at least 54 buildings, depending on the climate scenario, most of which are residential along the southern coastline, leading to a maximum of 14.4 USDm in damages. In 2050, no critical infrastructure other than roads will be hit by a flood. Using our approach, we find no damages due to storm hazards, which can be attributed to the limited availability of knowledge on wind vulnerability for Bonaire. The results are assumed to be underestimated due to inaccuracy in the applied hazard intensity maps, which can significantly impact the estimated flooding damages and associated costs. This research is anticipated to serve as a foundation for more sophisticated local climate hazard research on scarce data locations, and Bonaire specifically. Moreover, it provides a starting point for further research on adaptation measures on Bonaire, as it shows which areas are most vulnerable to flooding.