An Evolutionary Approach to Adaptive Capacity Assessment: A Case Study of Soufriere, Saint Lucia

Abstract

This paper assesses the capacity of Soufriere, Saint Lucia to adapt to climate change. A community-based vulnerability assessment was conducted that employed semi-structured interviews with community members. The results were analysed using the Local Adaptive Capacity (LAC) framework, which characterises adaptive capacity based on five elements: asset base; institutions and entitlements; knowledge and information; innovation; and flexible forward-looking decision-making and governance. Beyond providing an in-depth analysis of Soufriere's capacity to adapt to climate change, the paper argues that the elements of the LAC framework largely correspond with an evolutionary perspective on adaptive capacity. However, other evolutionary themes-such as structure, history, path-dependency, scale, agency, conservation of diversity, and the perils of specialisation-should also be taken into account.

Assessing the adaptive capacity of urban form to climate stress: a case study on an urban heat island

“…Juhola and Kruse (2015) proposed a framework for regional adaptive capacity assessment, in which indicators include knowledge and awareness, technology, infrastructure, institutions, and economic resources, and this framework was applied to assess the current adaptive capacity in European. Hogarth and Wojcik (2016) proposed a local adaptive capacity framework to assess the capacity of Soufriere, Saint Lucia to adapt to climate change, which characterizes adaptive capacity based on five elements: asset base; institutions and entitlements; knowledge and information; innovation; and flexible forward-looking decision-making and governance. Although previous literature has reported the frameworks that portray the adaptive capacity and demonstrated their applications via case studies, deficiencies are that (1) urban land use and urban form were not included in these frameworks, and there is a lack of approaches, as well as empirical studies, to assess the adaptive capacity from the urban form perspective; (2) previous quantitative studies tend to assess the historical or current adaptive capacity, and there is a lack of dynamic assessment from history to the future.…”

Climate resilience building in Semi-Arid Lands (SALs): institutional weaknesses and strengths in subnational governments in Brazil

“…They acknowledge that around the human-made system, adaptation endeavors to modify resource impairment or bring and utilize advantageous possibilities" (IPCC, 2014, p. 118). The diffusion of these adaptation tactics, nonetheless, depends on the adaptive capacities of all actors and their control over both tangible and intangible resources (Dixon et al, 2014;Hogarth & Wójcik, 2016). However, understanding if and how adaptation is taking place remains limited and fragmented (Ford et al, 2015).…”

Adaptation planning in Caribbean Small Island Developing States: a literature review

“…There are a range of studies that assess climate change risks, impacts, and vulnerabilities across different sectors, such as transportation (Monioudi et al, 2018), tourism (Scott, Simpson, & Sim, 2012), agriculture (Lallo et al, 2018;Popke, Curtis, & Gamble, 2016;Rhiney, Eitzinger, Farrell, & Prager, 2018), freshwater (Donk, Van Uyvten, Willems, & Taylor, 2018;Karnauskas, Schleussner, Donnelly, & Anchukaitis, 2018), and fisheries and marine-dependent livelihoods (Baptiste & Kinlocke, 2016;Forster, Lake, Watkinson, & Gill, 2014). Other studies examine impacts for marginalised societal groups (Baptiste & Rhiney, 2016;Dulal et al, 2009;Hogarth & Wójcik, 2016;Kelman, 2010;Middelbeek, Kolle, & Verrest 2014;Smith & Rhiney, 2016), for the region as a whole (Rhiney, 2015), or for the climate and ocean (Karmalkar et al, 2013;Palanisamy, Becker, Meyssignac, Henry, & Cazenave, 2012). This review underscores that there are many studies that fall under this category of the adaptation planning cycle without being exhaustive in detailed assessment of all such studies.…”