Adapting to Climate Change at the National Level in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Abstract

Small island developing states (SIDS) are distinctively more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than other developing countries. The focus of this paper is the Caribbean region that is described as one of the most vulnerable regions in the world and highly affected by the impacts of climate change. This paper applies a case-study approach and focuses on the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). With limited efforts to understand the adaptation, vulnerabilities, and challenges at the national level in these SIDS, this paper helps to fill this gap and has two main aims. First, it identifies SVG’s main focus on climate change adaptation. Second, it identifies the barriers to climate change adaptation in SVG. To fulfil the aims of this paper, content analysis, and semi-structured interviews with 32 stakeholders from the public and private sector were applied. This paper finds that SVG is mainly adapting to changes in hurricane, rainfall, drought, and soil and coastal erosion patterns. It also finds that many factors are limiting national-level adaptation. The three main reported barriers are a lack of financial, human resources, and technical capacity. These findings are important for the government of SVG and international donors and agencies. This will help them to identify and fill the gaps in their adaptation actions and prioritising finance. This paper’s findings also highlight the importance of mainstreaming climate change adaptation in sectoral plans and work programs and improving SVG’s access to international climate change adaptation funding.