Coastal Flooding, Uncertainty and Climate Change: Science as a Solution to (mis) Perceptions? A Qualitative Enquiry in Three Coastal European Settings

International audience; This paper contributes to the understanding of the interface between risk perception and climate change risk mitigation in coastal areas. In particular, we analyse the role of science-based knowledge and the so called “knowledge gap” in coastal stakeholders' verbalized perceptions of coastal risk. We use a qualitative approach to analyse of a corpus of 29 interviews conducted in three coastal European settings: Santander Bay (Spain), the Gironde Estuary (France), and Cesenatico (Italy). This analysis of stakeholders' perceptions of flood risk shows: (i) the science-based understanding of flooding as a probabilistic process is not always present and has little impact on the stated perceptions; and (ii) stakeholders and society as a whole frame risk mostly through values and norms. Given these findings, an increase in science-based knowledge within the world of coastal risk governance under climate change would contribute to safer coasts, provided that the production of science-based knowledge takes into account stakeholder values through a proactive dialogue with stakeholders.