Built to last? Local climate change adaptation and governance in the Caribbean – The case of an informal urban settlement in Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Climate Change (CC) increasingly affects cities in low-elevation coastal zones, and households in low-income areas in particular. This article focuses on local CC adaptation and governance in Trinidad and Tobago. First, it investigates the capacity of a poor urban community to adapt to CC, by examining the local impacts of and responses to flooding. Second, based on interviews with a selection of local stakeholders, the article sheds light on the institutional barriers preventing the development and implementation of effective CC adaptation strategies.The data show that households in the case study community experience the impacts of changing climatic conditions, in particular flooding. Households implement a wide range of adaptive measures before, during and after floods. It was revealed that the case study community receives very limited institutional support to withstand flooding. Looking at the different levels of CC adaptation governance in Trinidad and Tobago it can be concluded that although the institutional architecture to support local CC adaptation seems to cover all governance levels, vertical linkages between the various levels have to be strengthened to bridge the gap between community-based and national-level adaptation planning. The main institutional challenges are the lack of coordination and communication between the relevant actors.