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Climate change adaptation planning in practice: insights from the Caribbean

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Abstract

Climate change adaptation planning has rapidly expanded to assist with reducing vulnerability to current and projected impacts of climate change. In Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS), planned adaptation is viewed as essential to address their high vulnerability to climate change, and planning has begun in earnest across the region. However, there has been limited analysis of adaptation planning documents in the region to assess their quality and content. This study assesses adaptation planning documents from Caribbean SIDS, focusing on inclusion of key stages of adaptation planning that were identified from international and regionally specific adaptation guidance instruments. Eighty-nine Caribbean adaptation planning documents—including policies, strategies, programs, and projects—were assessed, revealing that they differ considerably from guidance instruments. Key areas for improvement include the need for (i) more direct linkages between identification of adaptation options and assessments of climate hazards, impacts, vulnerability, and risk; (ii) identification and appraisal of a range of adaptation options; and (iii) increased inclusion and usage of quantitative information about hazards and impacts. Addressing these deficiencies may help to improve the status of adaptation planning in the region and ultimately aid in reducing the high vulnerability of these island nations to the impacts of climate change.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre in facilitating identification of adaptation planning documents in the region. Kind thanks are due to Carl-Friedrich Schleussner and Sharon Lindo for providing comments to improve the paper and to Emily Theokritoff for the assistance in revisions. We also thank the reviewers of the paper for their comments in contributing to an improved paper.

Funding

We thank the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) for the funding that supported the research for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Analytics, Ritterstraße 3, 10969, Berlin, Germany

    Adelle Thomas, Omagano Shooya, Martin Rokitzki, Maria Bertrand & Tabea Lissner

  2. University of the Bahamas, University Drive, Nassau, Bahamas

    Adelle Thomas

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  1. Adelle Thomas
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Correspondence to Adelle Thomas.

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Thomas, A., Shooya, O., Rokitzki, M. et al. Climate change adaptation planning in practice: insights from the Caribbean. Reg Environ Change 19, 2013–2025 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-019-01540-5

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