The Journal of Environment & Development

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share a common vulnerability to climate change. Adaptation to climate change and variability is urgently needed yet, while...

Small island developing states (SIDS) have been identified as particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change. However, although SIDS have similar geographical features, natural hazards produce different outcomes in different states, indicating variation in vulnerability. The objective of this article is to explore the sources of this variation. With the point of departure in theories about how political institutions affect adaptive capacities, this article sets out to investigate whether government effectiveness has an impact on the vulnerability of SIDS. While claims over the importance of institutions are common in the literature, there is a lack of empirical accounts testing the validity of such claims. This shortcoming is addressed by this study’s time-series cross-sectional analysis using data from the International Disaster Risk database and the Quality of Government data set. The results show that government effectiveness has strong and significant effects on the number of people killed and affected by natural disasters.

Concerns over the status of freshwater availability in the Caribbean region and in particular the eastern Caribbean states have been expressed for at least the past 30 years. There is a growing realization that availability will be vulnerable to extremes of climate behavior and increasing demand for water. Climate modeling for the Caribbean region under a range of scenarios suggests a continuation of a warming in average temperatures, a lengthening of seasonal dry periods, and increases in frequency of occurrence of drought conditions. Using information from the most recent IPCC report and regional downscaling, the authors suggest what some of the macrolevel changes in temperature and rainfall might be and the implications for water resources availability. This article evaluates the existing availability of water resources, the implications of the most recent climate change modeling for the Caribbean region, and the impact of on existing service provision strategies.