2. Climate change impacts and adaptation for transport Infrastructure
Rising air and ocean temperatures, rising sea levels and surges, and higher wind speeds constitute some of the key climatic risk factors for SIDS. A better understanding of the climate-change challenge in its two dimensions, namely mitigation and adaption, is important. The need to adapt to unavoidable climate-change impacts on transport, in particular seaport and airport infrastructure, are a concern for all countries.
Small island developing States have the world’s highest relative disaster risk. Building resilience at seaports and airports through adaptation action is a necessity for SIDS, given their high dependency on these facilities. Potential adaptation strategies for SIDS include engineering, technological developments, planning and development, management systems and insurance schemes. Risk management must become a central element of government policy and greater investments in disaster-risk reduction and climatechange adaptation are likely to reap greater benefits in SIDS than in any other group of countries. Risk strategies must be based on reliable and accurate facts and information.