Island resilience & climate adaptation
Small islands are on the frontline of the climate crisis, yet they are also laboratories for bold, community-driven adaptation. This theme brings together research on what works, what fails, and what the rest of the world can learn.
About this theme
Island communities worldwide face accelerating climate threats: rising seas, intensifying storms, coral bleaching, freshwater scarcity, and coastal erosion. Yet islands have always had to adapt, and their strategies offer insights that far exceed their geographic scale.
This track explores both the vulnerabilities and the adaptive capacities of small islands. We are interested in empirical research, policy analysis, community-based approaches, and interdisciplinary perspectives that move beyond risk assessment toward actionable island-led solutions.
Curaçao itself offers a compelling case study: a semi-arid island managing freshwater through desalination, navigating coral reef decline, and experimenting with renewable energy, all while depending heavily on a coastline-centered economy.
Topics of interest
- →Sea-level rise projections and coastal adaptation strategies
- →Freshwater security and drought resilience on small islands
- →Community-led climate adaptation and indigenous knowledge
- →Renewable energy transitions in small island developing states (SIDS)
- →Coral reef management and marine ecosystem resilience
- →Climate migration and displacement within and from islands
- →Insurance, finance, and economic mechanisms for climate resilience
- →Island contributions to UNFCCC processes and global climate policy
- →Comparative studies across SIDS regions (Caribbean, Pacific, Indian Ocean)
- →Critical perspectives on vulnerability, resilience, and the "small island" narrative
Submission formats welcome
Individual paper presentations (20 min), organised panels (3–4 papers), roundtable discussions, and practitioner case studies are all welcome. We particularly encourage submissions from researchers based in island communities and from early-career scholars.