This report summarizes the results of a Community-Based Vulnerability Assessment (CBVA) of the tourism, fishery and agriculture sectors in Soufriere Quarter, St. Lucia. Soufriere was chosen as an illustrative case study in an upper-middle income Small Island Developing State (SIDS) as part of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) funded Global Islands’ Vulnerability Research Adaptation Policy and Development (GIVRAPD) project. The GIVRAPD project is a two-year comparative assessment of four learning sites in the Caribbean and Southern Indian Ocean (in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Mauritius and the Seychelles) who share similar characteristics: a high score on the United Nations Human Development Index, a significant reliance on tourism exports, the presence of an artisanal fisheries sector, and concerns about food security and the capacity of domestic agriculture to enhance this.

The GIVRAPD project (see http://givrapd.org) includes four research components: climate science, CBVA, Governance Assessment and Micro-Insurance. The CBVA component serves to identify existing adaptation deficits at the community scale, identify the range of vulnerabilities experienced by stakeholders within the community as well as associated adaptations to establish a vulnerability baseline. All four learning sites followed a consistent protocol for the CBVA component with a view to the identification of comparing insights and identifying transferable lessons for each of the three sectors. Additionally, the CBVA was designed to provide contextual baseline information for the Governance and Micro-Insurance components of the larger project.

Picture: Orbital Joe