In 2015 and 2017 unusual ocean and atmospheric conditions produced many years’ worth of rainfall in short periods over Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, resulting in catastrophic flooding in the town of Chañaral. However, the town is not only at risk of fluvial flooding, it is also at risk of tsunamis. Through a community mapping exercise, the authors attempted to establish the level of community awareness about tsunamis, and contrasted it with that of other types of water-related hazards facing the town (namely that of flooding due to high intensity rain). This was then compared with the results of field surveys and tsunami hazard simulations, indicating than overall the community appears to have better awareness than authorities about the threat posed by these types of events. The authors thus concluded that in cases when the community has a high level of hazard awareness (which in the case of Chile was the result of traditional knowledge being transmitted from previous generations) it would be advantageous to include them in discussions on how to improve disaster resilience.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction emphasizes the need to rebuild better after a disaster to ensure that the at-risk communities can withstand a similar or stronger shock in the future. In the present work, the authors analyzed the reconstruction paths through a comparative analysis of the perspective of a community in Japan and another in Chile, and their respective local governments. While both countries are at risk to tsunamis, they follow different reconstruction philosophies. Data was gathered through key informant interviews of community members and local government officials, by adapting and modifying the Building Resilience to Adapt to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) 3As framework to a tsunami scenario. The 3As represent anticipatory, adaptive, and absorptive capacities as well as transformative capacities and respondents were asked to rate this according to their perspectives. It was found that while both communities perceive that much is to be done in recovery, Kirikiri has a more holistic and similar perspective of the recovery with their government officials as compared to Dichato. This shows that community reconstruction and recovery from a disaster requires a holistic participation and understanding.

Consensus building among local stakeholders is vital for the success of the proposed initial commercial marine renewable energy (MRE) projects in Japan. Even though the literature on stakeholder acceptance highlights the importance of creating local benefits and co-creation options, very few studies and almost no empirical data have been published on the application of non-monetary benefit creation schemes in the context of MRE. Hence, the purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the possible co-existence options available for Japan’s MRE projects through data collected from interviews and questionnaire surveys in two development sites in Nagasaki and Kitakyushu in Southern Japan. To overcome the limitations of data unavailability and uncertainty, the Dempster Shafer Analytic Hierarchy Process (DS-AHP) was used for evaluating the best co-existence strategy out of five potential options. The results indicate that local fisheries prefer the oceanographic information sharing option whereas most of the other stakeholders prefer using local resources to construct and operate the power plant, creating business involvement opportunities for the local community. Analysis of stakeholders’ decision behaviors suggests that perceived impacts, knowledge, and values influence the preference decision. In addition to the validation of stakeholder preference of the previously proposed co-existence options with empirical data, this study provides a robust method to further evaluate the potential options with the availability of new data.

Background: Public awareness is crucial for successful deployment of tidal energy, a renewable energy source that can provide clean electricity to remote islands. However, considering public attitudes on tidal energy are not well known, especially in developing countries, a barrier exists in implementing public engagement strategies. This study aims to contribute by identifying strategies for information provision—the initial step in public engagement—and estimate how these can be engaged to enhance support for tidal energy among the local public in a remote area of a developing country, in this case, Flores Timur Regency, Indonesia, considering their socio-cultural background. Methods: In this paper, we employ statistical analyses using multinomial probit modelling to identify the key variables that shape information flow. The aptness of the variables is then verified using post-estimation techniques for their use as input parameters for the simulation of the information flow in the field study area. Agent-based simulation (ABS) is employed to replicate the actual conditions in Flores Timur Regency, Indonesia, and simulate the flow of information through the local community. Results: According to the multinomial probit estimations, the people belonging to the top hierarchical group show a higher probability to support tidal energy compared to the members belonging to the lower groups. Understandably, around twice as many information flow cycles are needed to disseminate information to the members of the lowest hierarchical group, compared to the members of the top hierarchical group. The results also show that increasing the amount of available information has a positive impact on information dissemination. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that information provision is highly effective with propagation of information that specifically highlights the individual benefits, rather than the community benefits of tidal energy. Additionally, savings in terms of costs, time, and efforts can be realized if the most influential members of the local community are targeted initially before including all other stakeholders. The study also indicated that locals absorb more information and increase their support for tidal energy when additional data is made available. Finally, as long-term strategy, information provision becomes most effective when the local population gains higher educational capabilities.

This comprehensive review paper provides an in-depth exploration of the landscape of energy management strategies within the context of emerging energy markets. It underscores the significance of effective energy management and optimization, particularly in light of the surging integration of renewable energy sources, growing sustainability concerns, and the dynamic shifts within the energy sector. This review extensively analyses three fundamental domains: electricity demand estimation, battery storage systems, and energy arbitrage methodologies placing a significant emphasis on the body of the research related to electricity storage optimization.Furthermore, it delves into the widespread strategies that are adopted in battery storage systems, which have assumed a pivotal role in energy storage and the equilibrium of supply and demand in the modern energy landscape. Nevertheless, amidst this extensive examination, a considerable research gap arises, specifically highlighting the lack of dedicated studies addressing energy arbitrage methods tailored to the unique attributes of emerging energy markets. This gap is particularly prominent in the context of Sri Lanka's growing energy market, where the prominence of renewable energy sources is on the rise.The review underscores that in order to fully harness the vast potential of renewable resources and optimize energy supply within this distinctive setting, it is crucial to develop and implement customized energy arbitrage strategies. These strategies should be designed to accommodate the evolving energy dynamics and the integration of renewable energy, that would thus enable energy markets to function effectively while maximizing economic benefits. Therefore, as the global energy landscape continues to transform, with a growing focus on sustainability and renewable energy, this paper sheds light on the need for innovative and tailored energy solutions in emerging markets.

This paper addresses factors underlying public opinion regarding offshore wind and tidal power projects based on a questionnaire survey, and interviews with local stakeholders and residents near a floating offshore wind pilot project and proposed commercial level offshore wind and tidal energy projects off the Goto city, Nagasaki prefecture in Japan. Further, this survey evaluated the stakeholder preference of possible co-benefit sharing and co-existence options which would increase the total local benefits using the Dempster Shafer Analytical Hierarchy Process (DS-AHP), a multi-criteria decision making model. The quantitative results of the questionnaire survey was backed by the qualitative reasoning which was extracted from the key informant interviews. Over 90% of the sample showed a reasonable knowledge about the on-going Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) projects in their area and indicated their support towards the development of the MRE sector. Impacts to the marine environment, impacts to the other marine users such as fisheries and tourism industry, job creation and economic impacts have been found to be frequently mentioned underlying factors for their acceptability decision. Among the supporters, 69.8% opted not to change their decision even after explaining potential negative impacts. Tidal generators showed a higher acceptability over wind turbines which is also explained by the reduction of the support with the visibility from the shore. Among the proposed co-existent strategies `using local resources to construct and operate the power plant' and `using MRE structures to support local fisheries' showed a relatively higher preference.