An Exploration of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies of Accommodation Providers in Samoa.

Abstract

In the present day anthropogenic climate change threatens to exacerbate the effects of climate variability and extreme weather events on communities around the world, including those living in the island nation of Samoa. This thesis examines the ways in which accommodation providers in Samoa manage climate-related risks, including climate variability and extreme weather events, and understand what adaptation strategies are being adopted and why. The tourism industry is especially important to the Samoan nation as it accounts for a significant component of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), provides local people with employment, and forms a crucial component of local livelihoods. This thesis argues that accommodation providers in Samoa currently adapt to climate change as a series of interventions to maintain the status quo. Current adaptive actions are short term and can result in maladaptation and increased vulnerability of certain groups including the accommodation providers themselves. My thesis provides a local-level study of the process of adaptation in Samoa. This research project employed qualitative research methodologies, including semi-structured interviews with accommodation providers and government officials in Samoa, as well critical discourse analysis of policy documents. Semi-structured interviews allowed me to gather in depth information such as how climate risk is perceived, social values, and how institutions shaped adaptive strategies. Critical discourse analysis was used to illuminate critical factors that constrain and enable climate change adaptation through the lens of accommodation providers in Samoa. The majority of accommodation providers’ reported that they had a range of adaptation strategies in place; this included insurance and financial loans, early warning systems, evacuation plans and sea walls. These results challenge the narrative of the “sinking islands” which is often applied to Samoa and other small island nations, and highlights local capacities to manage climate variability and change. This thesis reveals that most of the adaptation strategies employed by Samoan accommodation providers’ are only short term in focus (adaptation as resilience), and are designed to address sporadic events in the immediate future rather than longer term changes in environmental conditions such as sea level rise or decreased availability of freshwater. Despite being very aware of the issue of climate change, the results in the field revealed that accommodation providers’ had low levels of concern about future climate risks. The results also highlight how the strategies being implemented on the ground in Samoa by local tourism operators are largely divorced from national climate policy, and suggest the need for a more coordinated approach to adaptation, which includes utilising village councils, religious organisations and other institutions that play a critical role in the socio-political landscape of Samoa. Key words: climate change adaptation, tourism, social process, perceptions, institutions.