Climate change perceptions and adaptation strategies of Icelandic search and rescue teams | Skynjun á loftslagsbreytingum og aðlögunaraðferðir íslenskra björgunarsveita

Climate change is expected to shift Earth’s biophysical systems in unprecedented ways, potentially increasing the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. In Iceland, where exposure to diverse natural hazards is the norm, communities may be impacted by more frequent adverse events, including mass movements, floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and extreme weather. Consistent exposure to these hazards has shaped Iceland’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management strategies, which rely on a decentralised approach driven by local volunteers, especially in remote communities. At the most local level, 93 volunteer search and rescue (ICE-SAR) teams operate throughout the country. Volunteers on these teams are often the first responders to emergencies and natural disasters in their communities, utilising local knowledge, skills, and resources. The aim of this thesis is to investigate how ICE-SAR volunteers perceive the environmental and social pressures that shape their operations, and how climate change may shift these pressures. This was investigated through semi-structured interviews and a focus group with an ICE-SAR team in Neskaupstaður, East Iceland. The results showed that ICE-SAR volunteers generally expressed confidence in the adaptability and scalability of operations but also emphasised the limits of a volunteer-based system. Concerns focused less on climate change and more on generational continuity, local knowledge retention, and the need for the civil protection authorities to clearly define volunteer roles to avoid resource misuse and burnout. Institutionalising intergenerational knowledge within ICE-SAR teams was one potential strategy suggested to strengthen adaptive capacity. This case study builds theory around decentralised disaster risk reduction and management by suggesting that adaptive capacity in a volunteer-based system is not only sustained through operational flexibility and scale, but also through the preservation of cultural identity. Practically, the findings illuminate the need for the civil protection authorities and Landsbjörg to define the scope of volunteer engagement, clarify institutional boundaries, and integrate youth-oriented strategies that maintain engagement and generational knowledge. These findings may suggest strategies for stakeholder-informed national climate change adaptation planning.