Global vulnerability to climate change in communities of the Laguna de Perlas basin

Abstract

We assessed the global vulnerability to climate change and defined lines of action for adaptation and mitigation in the short, medium and long term in eleven Indigenous and Afrodescendant communities of the Pearl Lagoon municipality, RAAS, Nicaragua. Through the socioeconomic and biophysics characterization of the eleven communities, validation and analysis of variables and indicators of global vulnerability to climate change, it was possible to identify the status of eight angles of global vulnerability in each community. The validation and analysis of variables shows a community perception of the leaders of the eleven communities and the institutional reach that requires a change of paradigm to deal with the climate change; it also reveals that the eleven communities had a median global vulnerability (47.1%), which places all types of vulnerability in this condition, excepting the ideological and cultural vulnerability. The communities with higher vulnerabilities are: La Fe (56.9%), Raiti Pura (50.3%) and San Vicente (49.9%). Some actions are proposed for adaptation and mitigation in the short, medium and long term, which will require community and institutional participation at the municipal, regional and national levels to be able to reduce vulnerabilities to climate change.