Rising Tides, Rising Solutions: Small Island Developing States and Adaptation Strategies 

O nce upon a time, there was a child so small that he could fit in the palm of one hand. Everyone called him Garbancito, “little chickpea.” His parents adored him. Garbancito was a loving child and very smart. Size matters little when you have a big heart. 

He was so tiny that nobody saw him when he went out. However, they hear him singing his favorite song:  “Pachín, pachín, pachín! Be careful what you do! Pachín, pachín, pachín! Do not step on Garbancito!” And so he went through life. 
 
Garbancito liked to accompany his father when he would go to the countryside to work. Although his father was afraid of what might happen to him, he let him come along. “See, dad? It does not matter if I’m small. As long as I can use my brains, I am able to do anything,” said Garbancito to his father, who looked at him proudly.  

When they arrived at the cabbage field, Garbancito played and scampered inside the plants while his father collected the vegetables to take them to the market. The child was so amused that he did not realize that he was getting further and further away from his father. Suddenly a huge brown ox swallowed the cabbage where Garbancito was playing in a single bite, with the child inside.  

Garbancito’s Parable: Small Island States Confronting Climate Change 
The world’s garbancitos, the small island states, are being threatened by the huge brown ox called climate change, under the surveillant eyes of world’s developed countries, the father working on creating wealth. Yet, these small states are not passive victims awaiting their destiny, but rather active solution seekers working to counteract their challenges.  

Climate change mitigation and especially adaptation often seem difficult and cumbersome to inhabitants of small islands, putting us in a position of feeling helpless towards taking action and just accepting our fate as it comes. This perception is exacerbated by the different barriers small islands face, including high poverty rates, high debt-to-GDP ratio, limited resources, and a lack of economies of scale.  


Understanding Vulnerability: A Physicist and Risk Manager’s Perspective 
As a physicist and risk manager, I assess vulnerability by examining how an individual or community interacts with climate change hazards. This includes considering the degree to which they can be affected and their ability to adjust, take advantage or respond to the consequences.  

If we look at climate risk and vulnerability through this lens, we come to the conclusion that reducing the climate risk can be achieved by implementing interventions on the exposure pathways. These interventions often involve major investments in infrastructure, or they focus on reducing our sensitivity, and increasing our adaptive capacity. While climate change will increase the exposure pathways and the frequency of climate hazards, our socio-economic, environmental, and institutional context will determine our sensitivity and adaptive capacities, and hence our vulnerability.  
For small islands with limited resources and insufficient data to be able to make evidence-based infrastructural adaptation interventions, looking at climate change through this lens brings vast opportunities for implementing “no regret” options. These “no regret” options can be found in  interventions that increase our socio-economic, institutional, and environmental resilience, while simultaneously strengthening the resilience of our communities, hence serving as adaptive measures against climate change.  

Building Resilience through Cultural Celebrations: The Kaya Kaya Festival 
Using this methodology empowers us to proficiently categorize an array of ongoing projects aimed at bolstering socio-economic development while simultaneously serving as potential resilience-building initiatives against the looming impacts of climate change. The “Kaya Kaya Festival” in Curaçao, an annual celebration nestled within the mid to lower-class neighborhood of Ser’i Otrobanda, is one of these transformative endeavors.  

Ser’i Otrobanda, a neighborhood situated within Willemstad, confronts substantial challenges. These include socio-economic decline, poverty, and a palpable sense of insecurity exacerbated by a proliferation of homeless individuals grappling with drug addiction. Within this challenging environment, a local NGO has undertaken a commendable mission to enhance the livability of Ser’i Otrobanda through a holistic and inclusive approach: organizating the “Kaya Kaya Festival.”  

Months before the festival, the preparatory phase starts with concerted efforts from residents, students from the Faculty of Technical Sciences at the University of Curaçao, and dedicated NGO members. Together, they collaborate on renovating and beautifying the festival venue, infusing the area with vibrant street art, innovative social initiatives, and sustainable architectural enhancements that enrich cultural identity while also serving as climate change interventions. These enhancements include creating shaded areas, pocket parks, and community gardens, and renovatiing monuments in this part of Willemstad. 

This collaborative endeavor fosters a spirit of unity and community reliance, which proves invaluable in times of impending natural hazards, when the community must mobilize to safeguard itself. Visitors from beyond the community visit the festival, allured by the prospect of reveling in dynamic dance performances, savoring culinary delights prepared and sold by the local community, and immersing themselves in the rich cultural experiences offered. This influx of visitors significantly bolsters the local economy, thereby catalyzing new small enterprises and further fortifying the resilience of Ser’i Otrobanda in the face of multifaceted challenges. 

Garbancito’s Resilience: Overcoming the Ox and Climate Change 
You may wonder how the story of Garbancito ends. He was saved by his mother who tickled the Ox ferociously. The animal could not resist this and sneezed Garbancito out.  

As small islands, we anticipate the collaboration of larger countries, symbolized as “our mothers,” in taking serious action to mitigate climate change. Meanwhile, we must work on ensuring the liveability of our communities within the environment of that changed climate, represented by “the Ox.”  

The ideas presented in this article aim to inspire adaptation action – they are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Global Center on Adaptation.

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