LESSONS FROM ST. LUCIA: BUILDING LOCAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT, STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS, AND INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY

The document examines climate vulnerability in the Soufriere region of Saint Lucia, identifying significant gaps in financial, human, and social capital that hinder adaptation. It highlights barriers such as top-down government planning and a lack of incentives in the tourism sector, while suggesting micro-insurance as a tool to replace high-stress coping mechanisms among the poor.

• The adaptive capacity of the Soufriere region is severely limited by a deficiency in social, physical, human, and financial capital. A lack of social capital specifically hinders the ability of individuals to collaborate on scaling up adaptive options, while historical legacies of a plantation economy based on slavery continue to limit the resources available to the most impoverished.
• Several technical and governance gaps impede effective adaptation in Soufriere, including a lack of coastal inundation hazard maps, poor enforcement of building codes, limited transparency in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processes, and a general absence of innovative environmental technologies.
• Local stakeholders identified three primary barriers to adaptation: two related to policy and one based on culture. There is a perceived lack of inclusion of local actors in project design, with national government agencies maintaining excessive control. In the tourism sector, a 'business as usual' attitude and the lack of incentives to address social costs are major hurdles, while the agricultural sector is hindered by conflicting stakeholder values and vested interests.
• While the Local Adaptive Capacity (LAC) framework is useful, the document argues it fails to explicitly account for how local history shapes institutional structures or a system's capacity to maintain diversity.
• Low-income individuals in Saint Lucia and other Caribbean countries rely on high-stress coping mechanisms, such as borrowing from kin or doing nothing, due to a lack of insurance. Only about one-third of respondents have any form of insurance, and very few have coverage for livestock or crops. The primary barriers to adopting agricultural insurance are high premiums, a lack of trust in insurers, and a poor perception of long-term benefits.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2015). LESSONS FROM ST. LUCIA: BUILDING LOCAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT, STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS, AND INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/7GIVRAPD_Policy_Brief_Lessons_from_StLucia.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. LESSONS FROM ST. LUCIA: BUILDING LOCAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT, STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS, AND INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY. 2015. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/7GIVRAPD_Policy_Brief_Lessons_from_StLucia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=LESSONS FROM ST. LUCIA: BUILDING LOCAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT, STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS, AND INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY |date=September 2015 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/7GIVRAPD_Policy_Brief_Lessons_from_StLucia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2015lessons, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{LESSONS FROM ST. LUCIA: BUILDING LOCAL ADAPTIVE CAPACITY THROUGH COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT, STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIPS, AND INSTITUTIONAL DIVERSITY}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2015}, month = sep, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/7GIVRAPD_Policy_Brief_Lessons_from_StLucia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }