Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change in Caribbean Small Island Developing States: Integrating Local and External Knowledge

Jessica Mercer, Ilan Kelman, Björn Alfthan and Tiina Kurvits
Additional contact information
Jessica Mercer: 33 Gravel Close, Downton, Salisbury, SP5 3JQ Wiltshire, UK
Ilan Kelman: Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), P.O. Box 1129, Blindern, N-0138 Oslo, Norway
Björn Alfthan: UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Postboks 183, N-4802 Arendal, Norway
Tiina Kurvits: UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 360 Albert Street, Suite 1710, Ottawa, ON K1R 7X7, Canada

Sustainability, 2012, vol. 4, issue 8, 1-25

Abstract: Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are vulnerable to climate change impacts including sea level rise, invasive species, ocean acidification, changes in rainfall patterns, increased temperatures, and changing hazard regimes including hurricanes, floods and drought. Given high dependencies in Caribbean SIDS on natural resources for livelihoods, a focus on ecosystems and their interaction with people is essential for climate change adaptation. Increasingly, ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) approaches are being highlighted as an approach to address climate change impacts. Specifically, EbA encourages the use of local and external knowledge about ecosystems to identify climate change adaptation approaches. This paper critically reviews EbA in Caribbean SIDS, focusing on the need to integrate local and external knowledge. An analysis of current EbA in the Caribbean is undertaken alongside a review of methodologies used to integrate local and external expertise for EbA. Finally key gaps, lessons learnt and suggested ways forward for EbA in Caribbean SIDS and potentially further afield are identified.

Keywords: adaptation; Caribbean; climate change; ecosystem; local knowledge; Small Island Developing States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/8/1908/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/8/1908/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:4:y:2012:i:8:p:1908-1932:d:19606

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().