I Immediate Climate Vulnerabilities: Climate Change and Planning Policy in Northern Communities Derek Macdonald and S. Jeff Birchall School of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada Synonyms Abrupt climate susceptibilities; Abrupt climate vulnerabilities; Rapid climate susceptibilities; Rapid climate vulnerabilities Definitions Abrupt or Rapid Climate Change Abrupt, also referred to as rapid, climate change is the nonlinear application of expected climate forces that occur faster than anticipated, or the sudden occurrence of unexpected climate forces (Baede et al. 2014). These unexpected climate forces can have devastating effects for local communities, especially those on the coast (Birchall and Bonnett 2019, in review; Birchall 2019; Wallace 2017). While common coastal community climate change impacts such as sea level rise are more predictable in nature and can be monitored and prepared for over the long term, abrupt climate change impacts can be much more complex to predict, are highly localized (Sorensen et al. 2018), and often result in coastal communities resorting to reactionary mea- sures in order to adapt. Smaller communities are particularly vulnerable, as the majority of available resources for combatting abrupt climate change effects are often located in larger metropolitan centers, owing to their larger financial, professional, and academic capacity (Sorensen et al. 2018). Moreover, remote northern coastal communities, due to sparse populations and sensitive environmental locations, often lack ade- quate local resources to either proactively or reac- tively combat abrupt climate change, without significant external stakeholder collaboration (Sorensen et al. 2018). Abrupt climate change impacts can manifest in a variety of different ways. In Homer, Alaska, for instance, storm surges and bluff erosion are the primary stressors. While environmental impacts are not new to the remote community, climate change is exacerbating their occurrence and magnitude. A multidegree increase in seasonal tempera- tures has led to more severe storms coming off of the Pacific Ocean into Kachemak Bay. The larger wave action associated with these storms has wreaked havoc on Homer ’ s fragile coastal infrastructure, with waves overtopping seawalls © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Climate Action, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95885-9