scholarly journals Loss and damage implications of sea-level rise on Small Island Developing States

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 245-259
Author(s):  
Rosanne Martyr-Koller ◽  
Adelle Thomas ◽  
Carl-Friedrich Schleussner ◽  
Alexander Nauels ◽  
Tabea Lissner
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
Loss And Damage

Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and Protecting Displaced Coastal Communities: Possible Solutions

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony George Puthucherril
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Zone Management ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Coastal Communities ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Technological Support

Climate change and sea level rise are realities that are upon us and which will profoundly impact the lives and basic rights of millions of coastal residents all over the world. As the law stands both at the international and at certain national levels, the basic human rights of the climate displaced are not adequately protected. This paper identifies two possible displacement scenarios, based on the continued availability/non-availability of land in the face of sea level rise and other climate change impacts; namely, the sinking Small Island Developing States phenomeon, where land disappears and there is no surplus land to support habitation, and all other cases, where the coastal land is battered severely but it can be re-utilized through appropriate adaptation measures or even if coastal frontage land disappears there is still land available inland. On this basis, the paper proposes three possible solutions: (1) bilateral or regional treaties to facilitate resettlement of the inhabitants of sinking Small Island Developing States, (2) appropriate coastal climate change adaptation implemented via integrated coastal zone management and (3) creation of new arrangements under the international climate change regime to provide financial assistance and technological support to respond to both situations. Even though the primary focus of this paper is on coastal communities in South Asia, the lessons that it offers are relevant to other coastal contexts as well.

Climate Change and Changing Coasts

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Coastal Ecosystems ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Global Sea Level

Sea level rise has provoked widespread concerns that low-lying parts of coastal States including parts or even the entirety of small island developing States face a looming threat of erosion and inundation. Concerns over the potential impacts of sea level rise on the location of baselines along the coast and therefore on the scope of national claims to maritime jurisdiction have also been raised. The article outlines climate change impacts on the oceans before briefly reviewing projections of sea level rise. A number of the complexities and uncertainties which make prediction of the scale and speed of global sea level rise problematic are highlighted. The importance of assessing relative sea level against the contrasting responses of coasts with diverse geophysical characteristics and distinct coastal ecosystems is emphasised. Potential impacts on island coastlines in the Pacific are then considered and implications maritime claims discussed.

scholarly journals In Search of Higher Ground

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 3-11
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Russel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Political History ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Small Island Developing States ◽  
New Era ◽  
Extreme Risk ◽  
The World ◽  
First Time

The world is on the precipice of a new era in political history. For the first time in 400 years there will soon be fewer states in the world, as even the most modest estimates of sea level rise place the first of the small island Developing states (siDs), along with its population of over 13,000, underwater within the next 20 years. These are not the only states and individuals at extreme risk of soon finding themselves forcibly displaced by climate change.

scholarly journals The Vulnerability of Health Infrastructure to the Impacts of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise in Small Island Countries in the South Pacific

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 117863292110208
Author(s):  
Subhashni Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
World Health ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
Medical Infrastructure

Anthropogenic climate change and related sea level rise will have a range of impacts on populations, particularly in the low lying Pacific island countries (PICs). One of these impacts will be on the health and well-being of people in these nations. In such cases, access to medical facilities is important. This research looks at the medical facilities currently located on 14 PICs and how climate change related impacts such as sea level rise may affect these facilities. The medical infrastructure in each country were located using information from a range of sources such as Ministry of Health (MoH) websites, World Health Organization, Doctors Assisting in South Pacific Islands (DAISI), Commonwealth Health Online, and Google Maps. A spatial analysis was undertaken to identify medical infrastructure located within 4 zones from the coastline of each country: 0 to 50 m, 50 to 100 m, 100 to 200 m, and 200 to 500 m. The findings indicate that 62% of all assessed medical facilities in the 14 PICs are located within 500 m of the coast. The low-lying coral atoll countries of Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Tokelau, and Tuvalu will be highly affected as all medical facilities in these countries fall within 500 m of the coast. The results provide a baseline analysis of the threats posed by sea-level rise to existing critical medical infrastructure in the 14 PICs and could be useful for adaptive planning. These countries have limited financial and technical resources which will make adaptation challenging.

Limits on nature-based solutions for coastal adaptation based on climate change indicators

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosanne Martyr-Koller ◽  
Tabea Lissner ◽  
Carl-Friedrich Schleussner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Coastal Erosion ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Climate Impacts ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Coastal Adaptation ◽  
Loss And Damage ◽  
And Sea Level

<p>Climate impacts increase with higher warming and evidence is mounting that impacts increase strongly above 1.5°C. Therefore, adaptation needs also rise substantially at higher warming levels. Further<strong>, </strong>limits to adaptation will be reached above 1.5°C and loss and damage will be inferred. Coastal Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have arisen as popular adaptation options, particularly for coastal developing economies and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), because of their lower overall costs compared to traditional grey infrastructure approaches such as seawalls and levees; their economic co-benefits through positive effects on sectors such as tourism and fisheries; and a broader desire to shift toward so-called blue economies. Two NbS of particular interest for coastal protection are: 1) coral reefs, which reduce coastal erosion and flooding through wave attenuation; and 2) mangroves, which provide protection from storms, tsunamis and coastal erosion. Although there is international enthusiasm to implement these solutions, there is limited understanding of the future viability of these ecosystems, particularly in their capacities as coastal adaptation service providers, in a warmer world.</p><p>In this presentation, we highlight how long and with how much coverage coral and mangrove ecosystems can provide coastal protection services for future climate scenarios, using air temperature and sea level rise as climate change indicators. A mathematical model for each ecosystem is developed, based on the physical parameters necessary for the sustainability of these ecosystems. We investigate the protective capabilities of each ecosystem under warming and sea level rise scenarios compatible with: below 1.5°C warming; below 2°C warming; warming based on current global commitments to carbon emissions reductions (3-3.5°C); and with no carbon mitigation (6°C). Results show what temperature and sea level rise values beyond which these ecosystems can no longer provide coastal protective services. These results have also been framed in a temporal window to show when these services may not be feasible, beyond which more costly adaptation measures and/or loss and damage may be incurred.</p>

A METHOD TO PREDICT SHORELINE RECESSION DUE TO SEA LEVEL RISE ON CORAL REEF BEACHES AND ITS IMPACT IN SMALL ISLAND COUNTRY

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. I_1159-I_1164
Author(s):  
Susumu ONAKA ◽  
Masumi SERIZAWA ◽  
Takaaki UDA ◽  
Shingo ICHIKAWA ◽  
Tomohiro MORI ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Small Island

Developing future sea level services for Small Island Developing States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Jevrejeva ◽  
Judith Wolf ◽  
Andy Matthews ◽  
Joanne Williams ◽  
David Byrne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Water Level ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Caribbean Islands ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
And Sea Level

<p>The Caribbean islands encompass some of the most vulnerable coastlines in terms of sea level rise, exposure to tropical cyclones, changes in waves and storm surges. Climate in the Caribbean is already changing and sea level rise impacts are already being felt. Considerable local and regional variations in the rate, magnitude, and direction of sea-level change can be expected as a result of thermal expansion, tectonic movements, and changes in ocean circulation. Governments in the Caribbean recognise that climate change and sea level rise are serious threats to the sustainable development and economic growth of the Caribbean islands and urgent actions are required to increase the resilience and make decisions about how to adapt to future climate change (Caribbean Marine Climate Change Report Card 2017; IPCC 2014).</p><p>As part of the UK Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme and through collaboration with local stakeholders in St Vincent, we have identified particular areas at risk from changing water level and wave conditions. The Caribbean Sea, particularly the Lesser Antilles, suffers from limited observational data due to a lack of coastal monitoring, making numerical models even more important to fill this gap. The current projects brings together improved access to tide gauge observations, as well as global, regional and local water level and wave modelling to provide useful tools for coastal planners.</p><p>We present our initial design of a coastal data hub with sea level information for stakeholder access in St. Vincent and Grenadines, Grenada and St Lucia, with potential development of the hub for the Caribbean region. The work presented here is a contribution to the wide range of ongoing activities under the Commonwealth Marine Economies (CME) Programme in the Caribbean, falling within the work package “Development of a coastal data hub for stakeholder access in the Caribbean region”, under the NOC led projects “Climate Change Impact Assessment: Ocean Modelling and Monitoring for the Caribbean CME states”.</p>

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