Community Resilience as a Cornerstone of Climate Adaptation in Small Island Tourism Destinations: An Integrated Conceptual Perspective

Climate change poses significant challenges to tourism destinations, particularly small islands, where high environmental exposure, dependence on tourism, and limited adaptive capacity increase vulnerability to multiple climate hazards. Although climate adaptation has traditionally emphasized technical and infrastructural solutions, growing attention has been given to community resilience as a key driver of long-term adaptation. This review examines the concept of community resilience in small island tourism destinations and develops an integrated conceptual perspective on the factors that enable communities to anticipate, respond to, and adapt to climate-related challenges. A narrative review of interdisciplinary literature was conducted using peer-reviewed scientific publications alongside relevant policy reports from international organizations. The review synthesizes current knowledge on the theoretical foundations of community resilience and identifies its key dimensions, including social capital, governance, economic diversification, environmental stewardship, local knowledge, adaptive capacity, and learning. The findings indicate that community resilience is a dynamic and multidimensional process emerging from the interaction of social, ecological, economic, institutional, and cultural systems. Effective climate adaptation therefore requires collaborative governance, stakeholder participation, the integration of scientific and local knowledge, and sustainable resource management. By bringing together concepts that are often examined separately across disciplines, this review presents an integrated conceptual perspective that positions community resilience as a cornerstone of climate adaptation in small island tourism destinations. The study provides a conceptual foundation to support future research, policy development, and practical adaptation strategies for climate-vulnerable island communities.

community resilience; climate change adaptation; small island tourism destinations

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