Climate Change Adaptation in SIDS: a Systematic Review of the Literature Pre and Post the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report
Received: 27 July 2018 Revised: 30 March 2020 Accepted: 4 May 2020 DOI: 10.1002/wcc.653 ADVANCED REVIEW Climate change adaptation in SIDS: A systematic review of the literature pre and post the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Stacy-ann Robinson Environmental Studies Program, Colby College, Waterville, Maine Abstract The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli- Correspondence mate Change in 2014 was the most comprehensive to date. Yet it left several Stacy-ann Robinson, Environmental Studies Program, Colby College, gaps with regards to the impacts, implications and responses to climate change Mayflower Hill Drive, Waterville, in small island developing states (SIDS). SIDS are recognized as a special ME 04901. grouping of developing countries. Located in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Email: stacy-ann.robinson@colby.edu Caribbean, and Pacific regions, they comprise 58 countries that are dispropor- tionately vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. With adaptation to cli- Edited by Lars Otto Naess, Domain mate change viewed as a viable and necessary complement to mitigation, Editor, and Mike Hulme, Editor-in-Chief academic interest in adaptation in these complex geographies is increasing. Despite this, not enough is known about the body of knowledge relating to adaptation in SIDS. This article systematically reviews 208 articles, books, book chapters, conference papers, and notes, and synthesizes the nature and extent of the research evidence before and after AR5 (i.e., from 1990 to 2014, and from 2015 to 2018). It specifically explores shifts in (a) when, where and by what means knowledge is being produced (e.g., subject areas, methodolo- gies), and the ways in which adaptation is being framed (i.e., conceptually, operationally), (b) the narratives, consensuses, and tensions across the key emerging themes in the literature, and (c) the knowledge gaps that exist.
[Show full text]