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Tourism is a growing economic sector in the South Pacific providing the region with great potential for economic development. Vanuatu and its neighbouring Small Island Developing States and Territories experience a high vulnerability to climate change impacts. The tourism sector in Vanuatu is particularly vulnerable, and it needs to develop and implement effective adaptation strategies to reduce climate change risks. Policies play an important role by providing the platform on which adaptation can occur and resilience be built. This study examines the policy environment in Vanuatu for its conduciveness to climate change adaptation. It identifies the types of adaptation processes (explicit or implicit) and types of adaptation measures (technical, business management, behavioural, policy, and research and education) and critically analyses the current tourism-related policies for their effectiveness in assisting the sector to address climate change.

This paper first discusses the concept of social vulnerability, particularly its dynamic nature in Cuba, within the climate change literature. It then looks into the role of social networks, which may contribute to the improved understanding of the complexity and diversity of coping capacity and social vulnerability to global change processes. Evidence presented herein suggests that there is a relationship between network social capital and livelihood resilience and coping capacity.

This report presents the framework and discusses methods and approaches that can be used for transport project CO2 evaluation in Latin America and the Caribbean through the presentation of two case examples. A companion paper presents the findings from the portfolio review and interviews.The introductory chapter presents background and context, describing the current and projected transport and greenhouse gas emissions situation in LAC.Chapter two presents a conceptual framework for integrating CO2 considerations into urban transport with the aim of moderating CO2 emissions in Latin America.Chapter three addresses ways to estimate the impacts of CO2 from urban transport projects.The final chapter provides a summary of key points from the previous chapters and presents the authors’ conclusions.

Studies have indicated that climate change is likely to have dramatic negative effects for Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS). This article considers some of the main economic effects that climate change is anticipated to have in the vulnerable states of the Caribbean, it charts the progress of international negotiations at the 2009 Copenhagen conference, and provides a brief analysis of the impact of the Copenhagen Accord to Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS).

Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) currently face many environmental and sustainable development challenges, with significant impacts on human health, resource productivity/incomes, ecological “public goods”, poverty, and inequity. In this context, climate change impacts in the region will exacerbate and create additional complexity, particularly in urban areas. For hundreds of millions of urban dwellers in LAC, most of the risks from the impacts of climate change are a result of development failures. For the urban poor, this fact is disproportionately true. This paper seeks to contribute to the limited body of knowledge regarding climate change, cities and the urban poor in the region, and to inform how institutions, governance and urban planning are keys to understanding the opportunities and limitations to possible policy and program advances in the area of adaptation.

This paper examines the growing evidence linking climate change to the fishing industry in the Caribbean. The greatest concerns raised by climate change are in the areas of rising sea temperatures and the medium-term effects of more intense El nino/La nina (ENSO) events on the local fish stocks. The recommendations of this paper stress the need for improved management practices in order to cope with these anticipated changes.

This paper explores the probable effect climate change will have on water resources in the Caribbean, the fall-out from these effects and strategies for mitigating potential negative impacts. Such impacts will have a negative ripple effect on vital aspects of regional economies such as the tourism, recreational, agricultural and industrial sectors. In this light, this paper will assist in forging a better understanding of the challenges facing proper water management in the region.

The paper is based on the 2009 study, “Gap Analysis: Children and Climate Change in the Eastern Caribbean”, undertaken by the Business Development Office of the University of the West Indies and commissioned by the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The UNICEF Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean commissioned this paper to report on (1) the burdens borne by children in the face of threats posed by environmental degradation, climate change and natural disasters, (2) the arrangements in place for mitigating these threats and (3) the relevance of programming on the environment on behalf of children in Small Island Development States (SIDS) in the Eastern Caribbean.