A conceptual framework for the future of sea-level rise and land uplift changes in the Vaasa region of Finland

This paper uses the Vaasa region of Finland as an illustrative case study to explore how the relationships between climate change, sea-level rise and land uplift may offer applications in forecasting future land uplift changes. Using a comparative literature review and analysis of open source data, a conceptual framework is developed to ex-amine causes-effect relationships between them. The sea-level rise around the world by the end of the 21st century shows dramatic effects all over the world. However, the rate of land uplift in the Vaasa region is higher than the rate of sea-level rise. This localised finding is different from global average rates for land uplift and sea-level rise. This indicates that although climate change is global, it can lead to very different regional expressions. This paper presents a first attempt to combine sea-level rise and land uplift into a single cohesive framework to sup-port future land uplift management. The results of this paper establish a conceptual framework for studies of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change that can ben-efit local, regional and global communities.