Adaptive response for climate change challenges for small and vulnerable coastal area (SVCA) countries: Qatar perspective

Abstract

Climate change has already been affecting the entire globe in all aspects of life. Along with mitigation efforts, adaptive response actions are gaining increasingly urgent importance for many regions to considerably reduce the most severe impacts of climate change on social and physical infrastructure. As the severity and frequency of climate change impacts and consequences grow fast and highly alarming, particularly for small and vulnerable coastal area (SVCA) countries, the urgency and magnitude of the crises call for immediate and more adaptive responses. This study proposes that SVCA countries, being on the frontline of climate change vulnerabilities, impacts, and risks, should prioritize their resources and capacity and focus on developing and implementing immediate, tailored, adaptive response policies, plans, and actions. Long-term mitigation efforts would not help them reduce their current or immediate vulnerability in the short-term, as long as large countries with comparably huge populations, economies, heavy industrial dependences, and extreme consumption levels do not change their courses significantly. Therefore, this study presents a framework of climate change, sustainability, resilience, risk reduction, and adaptive response as a nexus to conceptualize the problem and solutions properly. Such a framework is needed to develop synergies between climate change and immediate adaptive response for such countries. The study analyzes Qatar, a typical SVCA country, assessing its current vulnerabilities & risks and potential physical, social, and economic challenges. Finally, it concludes with a discussion on recommended adaptive responses proposed for Qatar.