The predicted coastal impacts caused by continued anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions will threaten the viability of Australia’s coastal environs and settlements into the twenty-first century.

Coastal settlements have been developed over many decades on the basis that the shoreline is static and can be defended from flood and erosion. However, as the seas rise and storm surges become more prevalent and powerful, the wet and dry beach environments will attempt to recede inland. The natural beach will become squeezed against established defensive structures and coastal development.

One solution yet to be examined in detail is retreating existing settlements from the coast. It removes vulnerable property and structures from the path of the receding coast and preserves the beach environment in the process. However, such strategies are controversial, as property rights, owner expectations, and land values are impacted.

This presentation will draw together those tools and instruments identified in Australian and international legal literature on how the retreat of existing coastal settlements can be facilitated. First, a catalogue of relevant retreat-based tools and techniques referred to in legal adaptation literature will be discussed. This will comprise examples of providing information to the public, regulating land use, land acquisition, financial incentives, and financial disincentives.

The discussion will cavass statutory and common law issues relevant to their implementation and application, and aim to evaluate the potential for each tool to encourage existing landowners to abandon their property in the public interest.