Abstract Understanding how Caribbean small-scale fishers can adapt to climate change is critical to sustaining coastal communities and livelihoods in the region. Fishers continuously adapt their practices to climate variability and recurring extreme weather events, such as hurricanes. However, it remains unclear how their “everyday” responses contribute to building their adaptive capacity for future changes and unpredictable extreme climate events. This paper identifies and analyzes strategies used by fishers in the Dominican Republic and Belize to deal with extreme weather events and climate variability. We draw on two separate case studies to identify their current autonomous adaptive strategies and explore how these align with broader dimensions of adaptive capacity. We find that fishers in both countries respond to changes and climate variability by relying on three strategies: (1) storing, saving and borrowing resources, (2) using experiential knowledge, flexibility and mobility, and (3) diversifying livelihoods and intensifying fishing. We show that fishers build their adaptive capacity on flexibility to sustain their livelihoods and on local knowledge to mitigate risk and damage from extreme weather events. The paper argues that the adaptive responses used by fishers in the Dominican Republic and in Belize can sustain their livelihoods but cannot enable a long term and transformative adaptation to ongoing and cumulative climate changes.

中文翻译：

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加勒比小规模渔民应对极端天气事件的策略：多米尼加共和国和伯利兹适应能力的经验教训

摘要 了解加勒比小规模渔民如何适应气候变化对于维持该地区沿海社区和生计至关重要。渔民不断地根据气候变化和反复出现的极端天气事件（如飓风）调整他们的做法。然而，尚不清楚他们的“日常”反应如何有助于建立他们对未来变化和不可预测的极端气候事件的适应能力。本文确定并分析了多米尼加共和国和伯利兹渔民用来应对极端天气事件和气候变化的策略。我们利用两个独立的案例研究来确定他们当前的自主适应策略，并探索这些策略如何与更广泛的适应能力维度保持一致。我们发现，两国的渔民通过三种策略来应对变化和气候变化：(1) 储存、储蓄和借用资源，(2) 利用经验知识、灵活性和流动性，以及 (3) 使生计多样化和集约化捕捞。我们表明，渔民在维持生计的灵活性和当地知识方面建立了适应能力，以减轻极端天气事件带来的风险和损害。该论文认为，多米尼加共和国和伯利兹的渔民采用的适应性反应可以维持他们的生计，但不能实现对持续和累积的气候变化的长期和变革性适应。(3) 生计多样化和渔业集约化。我们表明，渔民在维持生计的灵活性和当地知识方面建立了适应能力，以减轻极端天气事件带来的风险和损害。该论文认为，多米尼加共和国和伯利兹的渔民采用的适应性反应可以维持他们的生计，但不能实现对持续和累积的气候变化的长期和变革性适应。(3) 生计多样化和渔业集约化。我们表明，渔民在维持生计的灵活性和当地知识方面建立了适应能力，以减轻极端天气事件带来的风险和损害。该论文认为，多米尼加共和国和伯利兹的渔民采用的适应性反应可以维持他们的生计，但不能实现对持续和累积的气候变化的长期和变革性适应。