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Towards adaptation pathways for atoll islands. Insights from the Maldives

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Abstract

Coastal areas host a significant part of the world population and of humankind’s adaptation needs in the face of effects of climate change, especially sea-level rise and ocean warming and acidification. Atoll islands illustrate frontline situations due to their biophysical (low elevation, small land area, 360°-exposure to waves, limited natural resources and fragile ecosystems) and human (high population densities in urban environments, low level of development, limited technical and financial capacities) characteristics. In these contexts, it is urgent to understand the space for societal adaptation and based on this, identify robust and context-specific adaptation strategies. This essay builds on the hypothesis that, given the nature of atoll islands, understanding the way and extent to which local human-driven disturbances affect the reef-island system’s capacity to provide coastal protection services, is a relevant entry point. Using the case of the Maldives, we propose to combine five types of adaptation into a generic adaptation pathway, and apply it to atoll island types going from no to highly disturbed environments. This work highlights two major conclusions: first, that diverse island profiles require different adaptation pathways; second, that in contexts under high human pressure, the window of opportunities for diversified adaptation strategies is closing fast.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the French National Research Agency under the STORISK project (No. ANR- 15-CE03-0003). VKED was also funded by the INSeaPTION project, which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), BMBF (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462). AKM also thanks the ANR programme “Investissements d’avenir” (No. ANR-10-LABX-14-01).

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  1. IDDRI, Sciences Po, 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, 75007, Paris, France

    Alexandre K. Magnan

  2. LIENSs, University of La Rochelle & CNRS, La Rochelle, France

    Alexandre K. Magnan & Virginie K. E. Duvat

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  1. Alexandre K. Magnan
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  2. Virginie K. E. Duvat
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Correspondence to Alexandre K. Magnan.

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Magnan, A.K., Duvat, V.K.E. Towards adaptation pathways for atoll islands. Insights from the Maldives. Reg Environ Change 20, 119 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-020-01691-w

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