Abstract:
This study is a comparative case study and investigates how local people on two islands called Maamendhoo
and Maavah, and one resort operator called Six Senses in Laamu atoll, Maldives reduce their risk for erosion.
This has been done by performing capacity analyses for these islands and the information has been collected
mainly from interviews. The capacity analyses are based on which adaptive capacity they have regarding the
risk reduction and adaptation measures; hazard reduction and avoidance, vulnerability reduction,
preparedness for response and preparedness for recovery. It involves how local people and the resort operator
both have adapted in the past and how they currently adapt (used capacity). Further it involves how they plan
to adapt, which lacking capacities and also which unused capacities they have. The capacity analyses are
analyzed to see if there are any gaps or weaknesses in their adaptive work and if the adaptive capacity differ
between the resort island and the local islands and what the reason for this may be. The result from the
capacity analyses shows that the resort have a lot of used capacity and implement many measures to reduce
their risk to beach erosion compared to what local people have. The reason for this is mainly because the
resort have more economic capacity to implement measures against erosion. The study shows that local
people have more gaps in their adaptive work since they do not use all the measures and they have much
more unused and lacking capacities compared to the resort island. The study is also investigating the
interaction between local people/the resort and authorities. The result shows that authorities and Six Senses
are supporting each others work with erosion, they are complementing each others work and the authorities
are assisting with the resources the resort is requesting. The result also shows that local people do not think
the authorities are supporting them in their adaptation work. The local people are complementing the
authorities gaps/weaknesses in their adaptation work to a certain extent. The local people do not in general
get the help they are requesting from the authorities, and they think that the authorities have not done enough
to prevent the risk of erosion.
