Sustainable tourism, climate change and sea level rise adaptation policies in Barbados Michelle Mycoo Abstract The vulnerability of tourism-dependent communities, coastal tourism facilities, and beaches to climate change demands the use of measures that can urgently minimise vulnerability and in the long term achieve sustainable development.This paper makes policy recommendations to address climate change and sea level rise challenges in small island developing states. Using Barbados as a case study, the paper found that innovations in policies and projects have offset the past ills of mass tourism and fortuitously now serve as pre-emptive measures in adapting to climate change. The array of methods for combating these changes includes physical planning policies, integrated coastal zone management, and infrastructure projects.Among the key areas for policy innovation are the adoption of protection, accommodation, and retreat strategies, which are informed by rigorous cost-benefit analysis and stakeholder consultation. Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change is also necessary, especially for islands where coral reef protection is urgent. Moreover, policy adjustments are required on building construction, water resources management, sewage treatment, coastal zone management, physical planning, and land management. Institutional constraints, including the lack of capacity to implement, monitor, and enforce measures, must also be addressed if progress is to be made in adapting to climate change.A major conclusion is that the severity of coastal damage, the importance of tourism to sustainable development, and the country’s adaptive capacity play a key part in the selection and implementation of climate change adaptation measures. Keywords: Sustainable tourism; small island developing States; climate change adaptation; climate change policy reform; Barbados. 1. Introduction The degraded natural environment of the small island developing States (SIDS) of the Caribbean is due to multiple drivers of change and is now further vulnerable to climate change and its associated sea level rise (SLR). SIDS’ vulnerability to these phenomena is of concern to the region’s policymakers because the livelihood of communities and tourism investors that are located in the coastal zone are endangered by them. Hall (2011) predicts that Caribbean SIDS will be among the most at-risk tourism destinations between 2025 and the mid-21st century. More than ever before there is a need to ensure that the “possible effects of climate change are effectively factored into relevant tourism policies and development and management plans” (Scott and Becken, 2010:287). In the post-Rio+20 period, greater attention needs to be paid to the links between climate change and impacts on sustainable development, especially in SIDS that are dependent on natural resource-based tourism. Two geographic peculiarities make SIDS highly susceptible to SLR: they have long coastlines relative to land area and large proportions of their land area are low- lying (Belle and Bramwell, 2005). Many islands are therefore susceptible to inundation of low-lying coastal land, beach and shoreline erosion, and saltwater intrusion in coastal aquifers (Cambers et al., 2008). Researchers such as Nicholls (2004) and Nicholls and Tol (2006) have noted that while the absolute impacts in small islands are quite small at a global scale, in relative terms the impacts are the highest. They have argued that with a SLR of 0.5 metres to 1 metre, many small islands could lose a significant part of their land that is oriented towards coastal activities. Based on these projections, even the less-vulnerable small islands would suffer significant economic effects from the loss of beach tourism and recreation areas. Belle and Bramwell (2005) have cautioned that the failure of SIDS to invest in climate change adaptation policies may leave them poorly prepared to cope with adverse changes and may increase the probability of severe consequences for sustainable tourism. Michelle Mycoo is at the Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. E-mail: michelle.mycoo@sta.uwi.edu Natural Resources Forum 38 (2014) 47–57 DOI: 10.1111/1477-8947.12033 © 2013 The Author. Natural Resources Forum © 2013 United Nations