Help yourself: how small islands can adapt to climate change

Small islands are responsible for few greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but they will experience the worst effects through sea level rise and water shortages. Small islands must act now to be ready for these changes.

Adaptation is the process by which communities prepare for and cope with changes in the climate. Many small islands, represented through the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), are demanding assistance from industrialised nations for this process. Research from the University of East Anglia, UK in collaboration with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and five UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, suggests a different approach, focusing on how small islands can help themselves and work together to cope with climate change.

Low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable to climate change, especially sea level rise and changes in rainfall patterns. Adaptation should be a major part of national climate response strategies. This can be achieved through training, research and the creation of response networks, followed by implementing a range of planned actions together.

By integrating weather and climate information into planning processes, it is more likely that physical infrastructure (such as buildings) and ecological buffers (such as coral reefs) will cope with future impacts. The research offers several ‘best practice’ examples:

• A risk management approach to prepare for tropical storms is a good model for dealing with an increase in natural disasters.
• An external climate change agency, such as the UK Climate Impacts Programme, can help government departments, businesses and individuals assess their vulnerability.
• Focusing policies on poor people and those living in sub-standard conditions means that more people are able to adapt successfully.
• Plans must account for the growth of permanent climate problems (such as temperature rises) which cannot be prepared for in the same way as ‘one-off’ hazards.
• Early warning systems and hazard monitoring help to make sure that enough resources are available for emergencies.

Local communities and individuals can start adapting through their own awareness and self-interest. However, at the public level, governments must lead adaptation programmes. The research outlines six main areas for implementing adaptation strategies:

• Developing open and transparent policies that integrate land use, coastal and watershed management plans with disaster mitigation strategies.
• New policies for long-term infrastructure planning that deliver water supply, roads, ports, schools, shelters and airports.
• Investment in a communications programme, which may need to include the entire population, to raise awareness and educate different groups about their vulnerability.
• Gathering and analysing information on climate change science, impacts, adaptation and mitigation options, as well as areas of uncertainty and the arguments of sceptics.
• The use of a ‘no regrets’ approach to paying for such changes, as most are beneficial whether or not climate change occurs and therefore can be justified on economic grounds.
• The support of regional networks to create collective pressure, funds, knowledge and methods of assistance.

Source(s):
‘Surviving climate change in small islands: A guidebook’, University of East Anglia: Norwich, by Emma L Tompkins, Sophie A Nicholson-Cole, Lisa-Ann Hurlston, Emily Boyd, Gina Brooks Hodge, Judi Clarke, Gerard Gray, Neville Trotz and Lynda Varlack, October 2005 Full document.

Funded by: UK Department for International Development; UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

id21 Research Highlight: 16 March 2006

Further Information:
Emma L Tompkins
Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1603 593 900
Fax: +44 (0)1603 593 901
Contact the contributor: e.tompkins@uea.ac.uk

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, UK

Other related links:
'Securing development in the face of climate change'

'Pacific Islands'

'Developments in adaptation: new responses to climate change'

'Adapting to climate change: developing countries and the global response'

'Facing up to forecasts – adapting to climate change'

Linking Climate Adaptation Network