Editing IPCC:AR6/WGII/Chapter-15 (section)

=== 15.6.1 Governance ===

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Specific governance-related barriers for effective adaptation include: lack of coordination between government departments and sectors and limited policy integration ( [[#Scobie--2016|Scobie, 2016]] ; [[#Robinson--2018b|Robinson, 2018b]] ), lack of ownership of adaptation implementation in cases where communities or national governments have not been part of the adaptation decision process ( [[#Conway--2014|Conway and Mustelin, 2014]] ; [[#Kuruppu--2015|Kuruppu and Willie, 2015]] ; [[#Prance--2015|Prance, 2015]] ; [[#Nunn--2018|Nunn and Kumar, 2018]] ; [[#Parsons--2019|Parsons and Nalau, 2019]] ), and difficulties in integrating IKLK in adaptation initiatives. Specific barriers to effective sustained adaptation in the Pacific include variable climate change awareness among decision makers, and the preference for short-term responses rather than longer-term transformative ones ( [[#Nunn--2014|Nunn et al., 2014]] ). These barriers also stem from donors’ preferencing their own priorities that do not necessarily fit the country priorities or context ( [[#Conway--2014|Conway and Mustelin, 2014]] ; [[#Kuruppu--2015|Kuruppu and Willie, 2015]] ; [[#Prance--2015|Prance, 2015]] ), which has led to increasing calls for effective community/cultural engagement in adaptation, especially through CBA and EbA ( [[#Nalau--2018b|Nalau et al., 2018b]] ). In cases where recovery efforts are framed as purely a matter of infrastructure other important aspects, such as livelihoods and gender, are more easily overlooked in adaptation ( [[#Turner--2020|Turner et al., 2020]] ).

In the Caribbean small islands such as Jamaica and St. Lucia, and also in the Pacific, barriers to mainstreaming adaptation include competing development priorities, the absence of planning frameworks or ‘undetected’ overlaps in existing frameworks, serious governance flaws linked to the prevalence of corruption and corrupt people in political and public life, and insufficient manpower and human resources, linked to countries’ financial capacity ( [[#Robinson--2018b|Robinson, 2018b]] ). In addition, the lack of strong governance mechanisms for urban planning has contributed to urban sprawl and expansion that has increased the number of informal settlements, which together with population growth are driving Caribbean small islands to their limits ( [[#Enríquez-de-Salamanca--2018|Enríquez-de-Salamanca, 2018]] ; [[#Mycoo--2018a|Mycoo, 2018a]] ; 2018b). In the Pacific, only a few countries have embedded climate change adaptation in existing legislation despite the overall regional agreement to ''A New Song for Coastal Fisheries—Pathways to Change: The Noumea Strategy'' to improve coastal fisheries management in a changing climate ( [[#Gourlie--2018|Gourlie et al., 2018]] ). Many climate change-specific initiatives across small islands have a unidirectional focus on climate risks and shift limited resources away from other important development objectives ( [[#Baldacchino--2018|Baldacchino, 2018]] ). Local-level plans are often overlooked: For example, in Mauritius, local-level climate adaptation plans are currently nearly non-existent while district councils have rarely been successful in even accessing international adaptation finance ( [[#Williams--2020|Williams et al., 2020]] ). In Samoa, several national-level programs on adaptation have had difficulties in engaging with the local level even if the decision-making powers on actual land management sit within the communities ( [[#McGinn--2020|McGinn and Solofa, 2020]] ).

Adaptation governance is also complicated further by the multitude of stakeholders involved, with differing agendas and priorities. In the Bahamas, private properties have significant say in how and what adaptation measures they decide to pursue and are not well regulated, with the tourism sector in particular dominated mainly by external investors ( [[#Petzold--2018|Petzold et al., 2018]] ). Social organisations, such as the churches, which have significant influence in many Oceanic countries, are engaging in climate change discussions and governance. Many churches report, however, being constrained to act on climate adaptation due to lack of financial resources, low levels of professional knowledge on adaptation, and their members not perceiving climate change as an urgent risk ( [[#Rubow--2016|Rubow and Bird, 2016]] ). Actors such as military services in the Indian and Pacific oceans also control a high number of assets in vulnerable locations and will need to integrate climate information into adaptive planning in the future ( [[#Finucane--2015|Finucane and Keener, 2015]] ).

Low technical capacity and poor data availability and quality are reported as limiting adaptation in Caribbean small islands such as Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines ( [[#Smith--2016|Smith and Rhiney, 2016]] ; [[#Robinson--2018a|Robinson, 2018a]] ) and Trinidad and Tobago ( [[#Mycoo--2020|Mycoo, 2020]] ). These factors are, however, secondary to the lack of finances, which is seen as a fundamental limit ( [[#Charan--2017|Charan et al., 2017]] ; [[#Robinson--2018a|Robinson, 2018a]] ; [[#Williams--2020|Williams et al., 2020]] ). This was also reported in the Seychelles, despite its success with innovative financing streams and being a leader in the Indian Ocean in this regard ( [[#Robinson--2018a|Robinson, 2018a]] ).

Limited regional cooperation across sub-national island jurisdictions (jurisdictions with semi-autonomous status) along with limited regional-scale climate information are also stymying action ( [[#Petzold--2019|Petzold and Magnan, 2019]] ). This is a concern given the need for pooled governance in response to capacity constraints across small jurisdictions ( [[#Dornan--2014|Dornan, 2014]] ; [[#Kelman--2018|Kelman, 2018]] ). There is also an insufficient understanding of the role of regional and international actors such as the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and the Global Environment Facility, respectively ( [[#Middelbeek--2014|Middelbeek et al., 2014]] ). Sometimes external pressure and, for example, transregional trade agreements are ‘useful for reducing unsustainable local sociopolitical arrangements’ as seen in the Solomon Islands regarding fisheries management within the concept of blue economy ( [[#Keen--2018|Keen et al., 2018]] , p. 338). Similarly, in Samoa, the World Bank’s Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) and the Adaptation Fund’s Enhancing Resilience of Samoa’s Coastal Communities to Climate Change illustrate successful examples of multilevel governance due to their programmatic and pragmatic approaches versus project-based approaches ( [[#McGinn--2020|McGinn and Solofa, 2020]] ). Enabling factors in these programmes relate to strategic placements of funds and responsibilities in the relevant ministries, alignment with national priorities and pre-existing plans, pooling funding to fill existing finance gaps, and increased awareness across scales and departments of synergies and gaps between different initiatives ( [[#McGinn--2020|McGinn and Solofa, 2020]] ). Initiatives such as the Pacific Adaptive Capacity Framework ( [[#Warrick--2017|Warrick et al., 2017]] ) and regional strategies such as the Framework for the Disaster and Climate Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP) enable the localising of climate adaptation into cultural contexts in an integrated manner ( [[#SPC--2016|SPC, 2016]] ).

Countries including the Seychelles and Maldives have developed national climate change plans that recognise linkages to food security, health and DRR, although these face significant resourcing issues when it comes to implementation ( [[#Techera--2018|Techera, 2018]] ). National-level plans, such as National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs), increasingly could include local government engagement and have a stronger focus on urban centres and adaptation ( [[#Mycoo--2018a|Mycoo, 2018a]] ). Building codes act as supportive enablers for adaptation governance: Requiring more hurricane-resistant housing in the Caribbean, including incentives for informal settlements to build in a more resilient manner, can achieve multiple development and adaptation outcomes ( [[#Mycoo--2018a|Mycoo, 2018a]] ). In Dominica, a Climate Resilience Executing Agency of Dominica (CREAD) established in 2019, aims to enable stronger climate resilience by bringing all sectors and services together for more effective coordination ( [[#Turner--2020|Turner et al., 2020]] ). Improvements in cross-sectoral and cross-agency coordination are creating opportunities for improved disaster preparedness and resilience measures in Vanuatu ( [[#Webb--2015|Webb et al., 2015]] ). A range of mechanisms also exist in the tourism industry: Adaptation taxes and improved building regulations could reduce risk drastically, for example, in the Caribbean region ( [[#Mycoo--2018a|Mycoo, 2018a]] ).

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