Abstract

The direct and indirect impacts of climate change include the potential effects in the distribution and productivity of target species populations, habitat, and food webs, as well as effects on the costs and productivity of fisheries and aquaculture, all which impact the livelihoods and security of the fishing community that depends on them. On Colombia’s Pacific coast, Tumaco is a vital fishing port located in Nariño, where artisanal fishing has been a primary producer and subsistence activity for the more than 5,000 inhabitants. In this context, implementing adaptation strategies for the local fishing community’s activities is an imminent need. We identified the possible climate change adaptation strategies that would best fit the local fishing community’s needs using a statistical multi-criteria analysis model that included an expert assessment analysis and the Climate Actions Prioritization (CLIMACT Prio) tool development by the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Strategies were categorized into high, medium, and low and prioritized by a series of feasibility criteria, including potential stakeholder acceptance, technical and financial feasibility, guarantees for implementation, potential for integration with local government planning, and projected effectiveness and sectoral impact. The final scoring of the strategies made it evident to prioritize programs or projects that would enable real-time dissemination of oceanographic variables to the local fishing communities and identification of areas suitable for mariculture as potential strategies for adapting local fishing activities to climate change in the context of the Nariño Pacific region.