Integrating indigenous and community-based climate change adaptation in Eastern Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) : the case of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Abstract

Climate adaptation practices have been carried out by Indigenous people throughout the world for millennia (Dent et al., 2023: 3), and it has been established that they possess crucial, experiential knowledge that can form an essential aspect of equitable and sustainable climate adaptation planning and policymaking (Byskov & Hymas, 2022: 614; Cisneros-Montemayor & Ota, 2019: 318; Phong et al., 2022: 9). While the Earth’s climate was not changing with the rapidity it is currently, nor was this change anthropomorphically driven to the same extent that it is today, they were nonetheless handled by Indigenous populations as part of their evolving connection to the landscapes they inhabited. This connection is a manifestation of a relationship that has been described as loving, reciprocal, interdependent, and familial (Galway, et al., 2022: 2). This was especially the case of Indigenous people who inhabited what are traditionally referred to as Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (Hofman et al., 2021: 2). Against the backdrop of island landscapes, and as a result of specific aspects of geographic isolation and the resulting effects on ecology and biodiversity, the Indigenous inhabitants of SIDS have been attuned to signs of change and evolution, and developed their specific adaptation practices to cope. Therefore, Indigenous and community-based adaptation practices play a crucial role in building climate resilience (Middelbeek et al., 2014: 139), and such practices are endorsed by formal bodies such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN, 2019) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2022). This research examines the extent to which Eastern Caribbean regional and local perspectives reflect international attitudes to the integration of Indigenous and community-based climate adaptation practices, and how such integration will benefit the Indigenous population, with a specific emphasis on the territory of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.