Barriers to adaptation: Insights from Laamu Atoll, Maldives
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Although adaptation to climate change is becoming increasingly recognised as an unavoidable priority, barriers are consistently encountered and reported. Identifying, analysing and overcoming these barriers is essential for ensuring that, as climate change worsens, adaptation capacities are not exceeded. Despite current studies providing a useful structuring heuristic to guide inquiry, there is a significant gap related to explanations around barrier occurrence and how to overcome them. In response, this article, based on semi‐structured stakeholder interviews, aims to provide preliminary insights into the type of barriers that exist in Laamu Atoll, the Maldives and explore any interdependencies between them. This study found that a range of resource barriers (i.e. funding, physical and human resources in outer islands and data on vulnerable groups) and social barriers (i.e. political/institutional and organisational constraints and inefficiencies, marginalisation and power differences as well as cognitive elements) were hampering adaptation. In exploring the interdependencies that exist between these barriers, the nature of their occurrence, persistence and entry points for resolution were also identified.
Source: Asia Pacific Viewpoint
DOI: 10.1111/apv.12258
Institutions: The University of Queensland, Griffith University
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3003165209