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REVIEW article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate Adaptation
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1445378

Small Islands: Living Laboratories Revealing Global Climate and Sustainable Development Challenges

Provisionally accepted
Assela Pathirana Assela Pathirana *
  • IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Small islands, while hosting only about 1% of the global population, are among the most vulnerable regions to climate change. Their critical role in climate adaptation is often overlooked, despite their significance as natural laboratories being lost in the discussions on sustainable development and climate adaptation. Beyond their well-documented vulnerabilities, small islands serve as invaluable scientific laboratories, illustrating the interconnected impacts of water, environment, society, and economics. Due to their small size and "islandness," these regions provide a condensed and accelerated view of natural and anthropogenic phenomena, which are harder to observe in larger, more distributed geographies. Investing in research and adaptation strategies for these communities addresses their immediate needs and offers critical insights and early warning signs for broader global climate challenges. This paper argues for increased attention and resources for small islands, emphasising their role as microcosms that reflect broader environmental trends and highlighting the urgent need for targeted adaptation measures.

    Keywords: climate adaptation, Climate vulnerability, SIDS (Small Island Developing States), Marginalised and vulnerable groups, Maldives archipelago, Pacific Islands

    Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Pathirana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Assela Pathirana, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, Delft, Netherlands

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