Institutional capacities of response to extreme rainfall events in small coastal tourism and artisanal fishing economies in Latin America

This policy brief evaluates the institutional capacities of three coastal communities in Latin America—Teacapan (Mexico), Bayahibe (Dominican Republic), and Brava de Almada (Brazil)—to respond to extreme rainfall events. The research focuses on economies dependent on artisanal fishing and tourism, analyzing risk perception, legal frameworks, and citizen participation to identify gaps in disaster management and adaptation.

• Across the studied sites, while legal frameworks and networks of key actors (government, NGOs, and community) are generally sufficient to handle hazards, mechanisms for citizen participation are consistently the weakest component of institutional response capacity.
• The study found that legal regulations for extreme precipitation events (EPE) were primarily reactive and dated from the 1980s, although the last decade has seen an increase in federal laws focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
• In Brava de Almada, Brazil, the site was identified as the most threatened despite having the highest economic conditions and living standards, due to a comprehensive assessment method that weighs indicators by their effect on resilience. The site possesses good structural capabilities but suffers from deficient inter-institutional communication and a lack of popular participation in contingency plans.
• In Teacapán, Mexico, disaster management schemes are incomplete; while the regional civil protection system is robust, local response actions are fragile, delayed, and largely based on unplanned arrangements and past experiences with minimal citizen participation in planning.
• In Bayahibe, Dominican Republic, the community is being overlooked by a central government-led initiative as the country transitions to a new phase of its disaster risk response system intended to integrate all members.

APA

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (n.d.). Institutional capacities of response to extreme rainfall events in small coastal tourism and artisanal fishing economies in Latin America. https://iai.int/pdf/en/PB_01.pdf

Chicago

Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. Institutional capacities of response to extreme rainfall events in small coastal tourism and artisanal fishing economies in Latin America. n.d. https://iai.int/pdf/en/PB_01.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research |title=Institutional capacities of response to extreme rainfall events in small coastal tourism and artisanal fishing economies in Latin America |url=https://iai.int/pdf/en/PB_01.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{interamericaninstituteforglobalchangeresearchndinstitutional, author = {{Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}}, title = {{Institutional capacities of response to extreme rainfall events in small coastal tourism and artisanal fishing economies in Latin America}}, institution = {Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research}, url = {https://iai.int/pdf/en/PB_01.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }