Clim. Develop. http://doi.org/c2jn (2019)

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face problems of land degradation, marine pollution, biodiversity loss, and susceptibility to natural disasters, all of which are exacerbated by climate change. Because SIDS produce negligible greenhouse gas emissions, they can only respond by adapting to climate change impacts. However, SIDS tend to be rural, remote, and not strongly supported by national institutions. Consequently, it falls to local communities to initiate and implement adaptation strategies.

L. C. Hagedoorn from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and colleagues conducted household surveys in a coastal community in the Federated States of Micronesia. Social capital, which reflects the strength of relationships between people and their community, had the strongest effect on willingness to contribute time to community adaptation, followed by perception of climate change risk. Large household size and high resource dependency — which characterize SIDS communities — were associated with less adaptation intention. Communities with high social capital present good opportunities for successful adaptation, but projects need to be carefully designed to ensure that they do not undermine this social capital by changing community power structures or access to resources.