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Adapting to climate change in small island developing states

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  • Carola Betzold

Abstract

Small island developing states (SIDS) are among the first and worst affected by climate change. SIDS are thus also among the first to adapt, and as ‘early adaptors’ can provide key lessons for adaptation efforts elsewhere. This article reviews the growing literature on climate change, adaptation and small island states. It first discusses migration – which increasingly is seen as part of adaptation rather than a failure to adapt. Mobility has long been part of island life, and remittances can for example fund adaptation measures back home. Yet, adaptation in situ is not as forthcoming as would be necessary. The article identifies different barriers to effective adaptation, and discusses them under three distinct but interrelated categories: perceptions and awareness, institutions, and (lack of) resources. For effective, sustainable and successful adaptation, we need to overcome these barriers, and in particular provide information and resources to the local level. With appropriate information and resources, island communities can take and implement informed decisions and successfully adapt to a changing climate – as they have adjusted to social and environmental changes in the past. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Carola Betzold, 2015. "Adapting to climate change in small island developing states," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 481-489, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:133:y:2015:i:3:p:481-489
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-015-1408-0
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    1. Shalini Lata & Patrick Nunn, 2012. "Misperceptions of climate-change risk as barriers to climate-change adaptation: a case study from the Rewa Delta, Fiji," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 169-186, January.
    2. Jon Barnett & Saffron J. O'Neill, 2012. "Islands, resettlement and adaptation," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 8-10, January.
    3. Briguglio, Lino, 1995. "Small island developing states and their economic vulnerabilities," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1615-1632, September.
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    1. Daniel Etongo & Kelsy Gill, 2022. "Local Governance Capacity Needs for Implementing Climate Change Adaptation in Seychelles: An Assessment Based on the Capital Approach," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Mikiyasu Nakayama & Hirotaka Fujibayashi & Nagisa Yoshioka, 2016. "Applying Past Lessons Learned to the Relocation of Climate Change Induced Transboundary Displaced Persons," International Journal of Social Science Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 4(2), pages 66-77, September.
    3. Lohmann, Paul & Pondorfer, Andreas & Rehdanz, Katrin, 2019. "Natural Hazards and Well-Being in a Small-Scale Island Society," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 344-353.
    4. Kevin Grecksch & Carola Klöck, 0. "Access and allocation in climate change adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.
    5. Amanda Bertana, 2020. "The role of power in community participation: Relocation as climate change adaptation in Fiji," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(5), pages 902-919, August.
    6. Matthew Wadey & Sally Brown & Robert J. Nicholls & Ivan Haigh, 2017. "Coastal flooding in the Maldives: an assessment of historic events and their implications," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 89(1), pages 131-159, October.
    7. Athaulla A. Rasheed, 2019. "Role of Small Islands in UN Climate Negotiations: A Constructivist Viewpoint," International Studies, , vol. 56(4), pages 215-235, October.
    8. Evans Sumabe Batung & Kamaldeen Mohammed & Moses Mosonsieyiri Kansanga & Hanson Nyantakyi-Frimpong & Isaac Luginaah, 2023. "Credit access and perceived climate change resilience of smallholder farmers in semi-arid northern Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 321-350, January.
    9. Chin-Cheng Ni & Dietermar Say, 2022. "Placemaking and Tourism to Build Resilience: A Quest for Sustaining Peripheral Island Communities in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Meenakshi Shankar Poti & Jean Huge & Kartik Shanker & Nico Koedam & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas, 2022. "Learning from small islands in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO): A systematic review of responses to environmental change," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/346937, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Alexa Zellentin, 2015. "Climate justice, small island developing states & cultural loss," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 491-498, December.
    12. Kevin Grecksch & Carola Klöck, 2020. "Access and allocation in climate change adaptation," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 271-286, June.
    13. Dominic Roser & Christian Huggel & Markus Ohndorf & Ivo Wallimann-Helmer, 2015. "Advancing the interdisciplinary dialogue on climate justice," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 133(3), pages 349-359, December.
    14. Stacy‐ann Robinson, 2020. "Climate change adaptation in SIDS: A systematic review of the literature pre and post the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(4), July.
    15. Jan Petzold & Alexandre K. Magnan, 2019. "Climate change: thinking small islands beyond Small Island Developing States (SIDS)," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 152(1), pages 145-165, January.
    16. Mehdi Hafezi & Oz Sahin & Rodney A. Stewart & Brendan Mackey, 2018. "Creating a Novel Multi-Layered Integrative Climate Change Adaptation Planning Approach Using a Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-30, November.

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