Adapting to climate change is becoming a routine and necessary component of planning at all levels. In the case of small island developing states (SIDS), the successful development, implementation and evaluation of national-level adaptation policies are especially important because of their disproportionate vulnerability. The status of adaptation policies in these countries, however, is poorly understood and documented, particularly for the Atlantic, Indian Oceans, Mediterranean and South China Seas (AIMS) region. This is so largely because of minimal mainstream research interest in these small nations. This paper helps fill this gap. It develops an Adaptation Policy Assessment Framework that facilitates a rapid qualitative assessment of countries’ national adaptation policies. It applies the framework to seven representative policies across six of the nine SIDS in the AIMS region—Comoros, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles and Singapore. It finds that countries are mostly successful in identifying climate and climate-related vulnerabilities and linking associated risks to other national development priorities such as poverty reduction. Countries, however, struggle with establishing and maintaining systems to review and improve adaptation interventions, which is not entirely unique to them or their circumstances. This paper’s findings provide critical points of reflection for countries preparing and revising their National Adaptation Plans in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They also contribute to a broader understanding of the complexities of climate policy development in small jurisdictions.

The successful design, implementation and management of the institutional arrangements for climate change adaptation are critical components of sustainable development. This is especially true for small island developing states (SIDS), a group of 58 countries spread across three main geographic regions, which are acknowledged as being disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In many instances, the dynamics of these arrangements in SIDS are poorly understood and documented. This study helps to fill this gap by identifying and analyzing “networks of action situations” through semi-structured interviews with 14 national and international climate change officials and practitioners in four SIDS (Comoros, Maldives, Seychelles, and Singapore) in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans region. We find that there are a few strategic actors involved in multiple, mutually reinforcing and sometimes conflicting arrangements, which are simultaneously being shaped and reshaped at different scales. We also find varying patterns of power, politics and participation that act as both drivers of and barriers to adaptation in these countries. By deconstructing institutional interlinkages and strategic feedback loops, this paper contributes to a broader understanding of the complexities of environmental governance in small jurisdictions.

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