Inhabitants of Pacific small island states are facing multiple socio-ecological pressures, with climate change being one of the most prominent. Nevertheless, the agency of local stakeholders in decisions on how to adapt to climate-related environmental change has been largely underappreciated in the climate change sciences as well as in policy decisions. We, therefore, conducted a survey study in Tuvalu, Samoa, and Tonga, asking specifically how residents perceive their situation regarding climate-related challenges, what adaptation strategies they have devised and implemented, and what they expect of governmental and nongovernmental organisations in these efforts. In contrast to the common perception that Pacific small island states are primarily threatened by rising sea levels, residents’ perceptions indicate that drought, cyclones and other flood-related problems pose a far more imminent danger. Our results suggest that further research on those perceived environmental changes is advisable to provide reliable data for scientific models and policy decisions.

中文翻译：

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岛屿决策支持建模的练习：“典型”地中海岛屿的案例研究

太平洋小岛国的居民面临着多种社会生态压力，其中气候变化是最突出的压力之一。然而，在如何适应气候相关的环境变化的决策中，当地利益相关者的机构在气候变化科学以及政策决策中都没有得到足够的重视。因此，我们在图瓦卢，萨摩亚和汤加进行了一项调查研究，特别询问居民如何看待与气候相关的挑战的情况，他们设计和实施的适应策略以及对政府和非政府组织在这些努力中的期望。与通常认为太平洋小岛国主要受到海平面上升威胁的人们的看法相反，居民的看法表明干旱，飓风和其他与洪水有关的问题构成了迫在眉睫的危险。我们的结果表明，建议对那些感知到的环境变化进行进一步研究，以为科学模型和政策决策提供可靠的数据。