Building adaptive capacity to climate change in tropical coastal communities

Abstract

To minimize the impacts of climate change on human wellbeing, governments, development agencies, and civil society organizations have made substantial investments in improving people's capacity to adapt to change. Yet to date, these investments have

Planned relocation and everyday agency in low‐lying coastal villages in Fiji

“…Everyday agency is evident as people respond to local environmental changes and risks, and steer their way through the opportunities and challenges of planned relocation. Cinner et al (2018) write that agency is the basis for activating adaptive capacity, shaping alternative futures, and resisting adaptation efforts and impacts that encroach on key values such as place attachment. Acknowledging and enabling the agency of climate-affected people involved in adaptation initiatives is critically important.…”

“…Theories of agency highlight that people's lives are neither the outcome of individual decisions and behaviours, nor entirely shaped by societal structures, but are constituted through both agency and structure (Carr, ; Giddens, ). In the context of climate change adaptation, recent evidence suggests that agency enables people to anticipate and respond to changes, minimise adverse environmental and socio‐political impacts, convert resources into effective adaptive action, and take advantage of emerging opportunities (Cinner et al., ).…”

Harnessing marine microclimates for climate change adaptation and marine conservation

“…Cost effective and scalable coastal oceanographic observing systems providing information on local physical variability to local communities are key to enable them to harness variability for more effective local management. Moreover, areas that provide consistent refuges from environmental extremes under different large‐scale oceanographic regimes (Boch et al., ; Safaie et al., ) provide opportunities for restoration efforts and marine protected areas, and for supporting alternatives to wild capture fisheries for local communities (Cinner et al., )—for example, by providing suitable conditions for artificial reefs, enhancement of exploited populations via juvenile outplants, and locally‐owned mariculture operations. Identifying such refuges has the potential to support local adaptation to climate change and enhance marine conservation (Cinner et al., ).…”

Challenges for health in the Anthropocene epoch

“…Potential solutions to these threats must increase the resilience of populations to any changes that cannot be prevented,17 as well as capitalising on transformative policies, interventions, and technologies that reduce our environmental footprint, while protecting and promoting health 18. Promising strategies to help populations adapt include early warning systems for extreme heat, floods, and infectious disease outbreaks,19 and provision of water and sanitation systems capable of withstanding extreme events 20.…”