Paper short abstract:

This presentation details a novel methodological approach for ground truthing assumptions about climate change impacts, adaptation and long term environmental change on small islands, for a proposed research project comparing Mauritius and Tobago.

Paper long abstract:

It is generally accepted that the impacts of climate change on small islands are already being experienced in a range of manifestations. However, recent research suggests that some assumptions, such as the impact of sea‐level rise, are incorrect. There is limited empirical data available to delineate climate change impacts from either cyclic/baseline changes or other factors, a significant limitation in terms of climate change attribution. Therefore there is great potential value in understanding how communities perceive long-term environmental change, both for understanding climate change impacts and the implications this has for how communities are responding and will respond to expected changes.

I am proposing a methodological approach that will form the basis of this research. This will investigate the perceptions of long-term environmental change in two case study locations using in-depth interviews. It will cross-reference and analyse this interview data with novel sources such as archival/historical records, traditional knowledge, photographic evidence and cultural narratives of climate, in conjunction with existing survey data and remote sensing data. In this way, this proposed methodological approach aims to ground‐truth the assumptions surrounding climate change impacts and community response.

The two proposed Small Island field sites are Mauritius and Tobago, allowing for comparative lessons to be drawn from the Indian Ocean and Caribbean. Aside from a small number of similar studies and some baseline material this proposed methodological approach is original and unique.