17 Adapting to Climate Change by Building Back Better in Disaster Recovery …
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17.10 Effective Implementation in Rarotonga
The main stakeholders relevant for post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation activities of the coastal businesses in this study seemed to be EMCI, the Tourism
Corporation, and the Tourism Industry Council. However, there seemed to be little
direct support provided to businesses due to a lack of communication and coordination between these organisations and businesses. Culturally, Pacific nations such as
the Cook Islands have built their resilience primarily through grassroots capabilities,
which could be the reason for the inadequacy in government interventions. However,
the businesses interviewed in this study all consistently indicated that they would like
better relationships with these organisations to receive guidance on preparedness,
especially for issues like climate change which aren’t well understood.
In terms of legislation, all interviewees stated that there is no legislation that
they know of that provides adequate assistance for tourism businesses to recover
post-disaster or build resilience for future events. EMCI stated that they are working
on better multi-hazard risk models and land-use planning to develop policies for
restricting infrastructure on high-risk locations and enforce appropriate building
design controls. It is also necessary for EMCI to work with the tourism organisations
to develop solutions for coastal businesses that will likely remain in high-risk zones.
Regulations and practices are also needed to prioritise climate adaptation infrastructure that can reduce risks imposed on coastal businesses, as well as prioritise the
rebuilding of infrastructure servicing coastal tourism businesses following disaster
events.
The last component of the BBB Framework, monitoring and evaluation, is implemented at an individual level by businesses to address issues and improve upon them,
but there doesn’t seem to be any significant higher level monitoring of the recovery
and resilience of coastal businesses from the government level. The importance of
tourism businesses to the country’s economy needs to be acknowledged and more
resources need to be directed at supporting these businesses and their ability to be
resilient to climate change impacts.
17.11 Conclusions
This chapter explored how the holistic concept of Building Back Better can be an
effective tool to look at climate change adaptation. Climate change is resulting in
higher magnitude and frequency disaster events and slow-creep changes such as sealevel rise, higher rainfall and higher temperatures. Climate change adaptation and
disaster risk reduction are therefore a combined problem, with resilience being the
best solution. Resilience is the ability for a community, its built environment, people
and businesses to be able to cope with known and unknown changes, recover and
adapt. The IRDR Science Action Plan (ICSU 2008) calls for integrated approaches
and in particular suggests the need to look at DRR and CCA priorities together.
323
17.10 Effective Implementation in Rarotonga
The main stakeholders relevant for post-disaster recovery and climate change adaptation activities of the coastal businesses in this study seemed to be EMCI, the Tourism
Corporation, and the Tourism Industry Council. However, there seemed to be little
direct support provided to businesses due to a lack of communication and coordination between these organisations and businesses. Culturally, Pacific nations such as
the Cook Islands have built their resilience primarily through grassroots capabilities,
which could be the reason for the inadequacy in government interventions. However,
the businesses interviewed in this study all consistently indicated that they would like
better relationships with these organisations to receive guidance on preparedness,
especially for issues like climate change which aren’t well understood.
In terms of legislation, all interviewees stated that there is no legislation that
they know of that provides adequate assistance for tourism businesses to recover
post-disaster or build resilience for future events. EMCI stated that they are working
on better multi-hazard risk models and land-use planning to develop policies for
restricting infrastructure on high-risk locations and enforce appropriate building
design controls. It is also necessary for EMCI to work with the tourism organisations
to develop solutions for coastal businesses that will likely remain in high-risk zones.
Regulations and practices are also needed to prioritise climate adaptation infrastructure that can reduce risks imposed on coastal businesses, as well as prioritise the
rebuilding of infrastructure servicing coastal tourism businesses following disaster
events.
The last component of the BBB Framework, monitoring and evaluation, is implemented at an individual level by businesses to address issues and improve upon them,
but there doesn’t seem to be any significant higher level monitoring of the recovery
and resilience of coastal businesses from the government level. The importance of
tourism businesses to the country’s economy needs to be acknowledged and more
resources need to be directed at supporting these businesses and their ability to be
resilient to climate change impacts.
17.11 Conclusions
This chapter explored how the holistic concept of Building Back Better can be an
effective tool to look at climate change adaptation. Climate change is resulting in
higher magnitude and frequency disaster events and slow-creep changes such as sealevel rise, higher rainfall and higher temperatures. Climate change adaptation and
disaster risk reduction are therefore a combined problem, with resilience being the
best solution. Resilience is the ability for a community, its built environment, people
and businesses to be able to cope with known and unknown changes, recover and
adapt. The IRDR Science Action Plan (ICSU 2008) calls for integrated approaches
and in particular suggests the need to look at DRR and CCA priorities together.