Making invisible risks visible: Education, environmental risk information and coastal development

Developments in coastal regions often entail invisible, complex and uncertain aspects of risk. This paper examines: (1) what kinds of environmental risk information are generally “invisible” or difficult to understand; (2) whether or not there is specific “invisible” risk information especially related to coastal development; and (3) what would be bases of risk education in coastal communities in the future. It discusses these by looking at successful and unsuccessful attempts to make some “invisible” risk information visible, using examples from Japan and elsewhere.