Discovering climate: the challenge of climate adaptation in the Caribbean

Climate adaptation is key to a resilient future for the Caribbean but requires substantial funding.

In July 2024, Hurricane Beryl unleashed destruction across the Caribbean, affecting islands Saint Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and more. Some areas were hit harder than others. In parts of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, over 90% of buildings were severely damaged or destroyed altogether.

Beryl’s devastating social and economic impact has recharged talks about climate change in the Caribbean. Especially climate adaptation – the process of adjusting to actual or expected climate and its effects, to lessen harm or utilise advantageous opportunities.

Climate change and small island developing states

Extreme weather events are nothing new. However, the effects of climate change are a compounding factor to their detrimental outcomes. As knowledge about climate change has grown, various frameworks, agreements, policies, and alliances have been established to mobilise a unified response. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the leading instrument for climate action on a global scale, with 198 member countries.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly vulnerable to climate change despite contributing the least, at less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. First recognised as a distinct set of countries in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, SIDS comprise of 38 states and 18 associate members. These include countries in the Caribbean, Pacific Islands, and Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS). Also, select non-island countries like Belize (Central America), and Guyana and Suriname (South America).

While they are a diverse group of countries, SIDS share several characteristics. They are typically small in size, remote, and have a constrained resource base compared to other countries. They also face similar climate hazards including:

• sea-level rise;
• rising temperatures;
• changes in precipitation (e.g. heavier rainfall);
• and extreme weather events (e.g. increasing intensity of hurricanes).

Exposure to these hazards, combined with vulnerabilities in human and natural systems, produces climate risks that can have tremendous impacts. Affecting where humans and other species can live, what sort of socio-economic activities can occur in particular places, and creating damages and losses from extreme events. For some SIDS, continued sea-level rise could eventually make them completely uninhabitable.

Climate impacts in the Caribbean

Looking at just a few specific events shows the wide reach of climate impacts in the Caribbean:

• More intense and frequent storms are a major issue for coastal communities. In Dominica, the impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017 caused damages equivalent to two years’ GDP. Dominica’s fisheries, a vital contributor to food security, the economy, and social and cultural identities, were significantly affected. In areas with limited protective infrastructure, fishing assets such as boats and gears were lost or damaged. Other fishers were restricted to short trips due to limited access to electricity, water, ice, and fuel.

• Records have shown an increase in rainfall intensity in the Caribbean, suggesting – on average – rainfall has gotten heavier over time.In 2021, Guyana experienced exceptionally high rainfall resulting in the worst flooding the country had seen in over 20 years. The flooding severely impacted Guyana’s agriculture, devastating large areas of farmland, killing livestock, and damaging public and private infrastructure. Mining extraction, another core element of its economy, was also affected.

• In the first half of 2024, Grenada experienced extreme heat and low rainfall leading to heatwaves, fires, and drought. It was still recovering from the medium-term impacts when Hurricane Beryl – fuelled by abnormally warm waters across the South Atlantic Ocean – struck in July 2024. Subsequently, many Grenadians have lost their homes, possessions, and businesses. In addition to 98% of buildings being damaged or completely destroyed, almost all communications systems and the electrical grid were down.

In the aftermath of Beryl, Caribbean governments are even more concerned with how to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change. This is where climate adaptation comes in.

Climate adaptation

There are many approaches that SIDS can take to adapt to climate change, including infrastructural, institutional, community, and ecosystem adaptation. Solutions from each pathway can be applied in tandem to tackle national, regional, and community-specific climate challenges.

Infrastructural adaptation concerns the assets, technologies, and infrastructure required to protect essential services like water and electricity. For example, hardening seawalls against sea-level rise, climate-proofing buildings, traditional rainwater harvesting, and building irrigation systems to help against drought.

Institutional adaptation is about the strength of institutions that are responsible for infrastructural and community assets, and planning. These could be government ministries or departments. Enhancing environmental monitoring, climate vulnerability mapping, and using early warning systems for extreme weather events, are some common applications.

Community adaptation focuses on just that – communities and the individual livelihoods that form them. Adaptation may involve designing agricultural practices to withstand climate change, risk pooling, and organising social care networks to support vulnerable community members.  For those in low-lying coastal areas severely affected by storms, it can also consist of relocation procedures.

Lastly, ecosystem adaptation looks at how to secure the survival of ecosystems against climate change. This can be pursued by relocating species and keeping gene banks to sustain biodiversity, mangrove conservation, and restoration (e.g. of coral reefs).

The urgent need for substantial, accessible climate adaptation funding for the Caribbean could not be any clearer.

Amongst Caribbean SIDS, a plethora of climate adaptation plans and projects are currently underway:

• The government of Barbados created the “Roofs to Reefs” national strategy to bolster climate resilience. The programme is an umbrella for several initiatives, including the Water Sector Resilience Nexus for Sustainability in Barbados (WSRN S-Barbados) which aims to create a “sustainable, resilient water supply”. Implementation of renewable energy options, increased water capacity via rainwater harvesting and water storage, and disseminating knowledge about climate change and the water cycle, are among its plans.

• Saint Lucia is building the resilience of its agricultural sector to climate change with a three-part project. In the first component, 1,500 farmers will be trained on alternative land management and soil conservation practices. There will also be improved water security from water harvesting systems. The expected outcomes are increased farm productivity, better livelihood security, and the production of new farm areas.

• Guyana has a Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), and a Climate Resilience Strategy and Action Plan (CRSAP) dedicated to its climate resilience element. Sea defence enhancement and maintenance is a top priority. It plans to restore and retrofit seawalls, restore and protect mangroves, ensure coastal communities are protected against coastal flooding, and raise awareness about the importance of its mangrove ecosystem to sea defence.

It is promising that there are many climate adaptation plans in motion. However, there are also multiple constraints to actioning the full extent of changes needed.

Constraints to adaptation

A study by Theokritoff et al. (2023) explored perspectives about constraints to climate adaptation experienced by Caribbean SIDS.  Using a mixed-methods approach, adaptation experts from across the Caribbean participated in online surveys and semi-structured interviews. Twelve out of sixteen Caribbean SIDS were represented in the final sample.  The study found that they face four main constraints. Finance was the biggest followed by governance; information, awareness and technology; and human capacity.

A crucial finding was the “vicious cycles” of interlinking constraints that can limit adaptation altogether. On the linkages between finance, information, and human capacity constraints, the study discovered:

“…insufficient availability of scientific information and lack of dedicated staff to write up funding proposals negatively impact the access to international adaptation finance, however, funding is required for the production of scientific information and additional human capacity.”

Theokritoff et al. (2023)

Finance was also the category with the highest interlinkages to other constraints. The study argues that while all constraints must be addressed, better access to adaptation finance could have positive outcomes across the board. Furthermore, “international climate finance is a moral imperative and required to achieve climate justice as regions like the Caribbean SIDS are responsible for less than 1% of global emissions”.

The study also highlights details of many financial factors at play. The Paris Agreement has failed to meet its US$100 billion annual goal. The design of climate funding applications is not suitable for Caribbean SIDS with “low institutional capacities and limited historical data available”. Mitigation equals two-thirds of climate finance provided by developed countries, leaving significantly less for adaptation. It concludes with recommendations such as simplifying climate finance applications, basing eligibility criteria on vulnerability, and debt cancellation due to the high indebtedness of many Caribbean SIDS.

Since Hurricane Beryl, the governments of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada, have also requested debt cancellation from the UK government. They simply do not have the fiscal space to keep rebuilding after every disaster.

Closing thoughts

The urgent need for substantial, accessible climate adaptation funding for the Caribbean could not be any clearer. The region bears the brunt of some of the worst impacts of greenhouse gas emissions. It cannot be overstated this is something it did not contribute more than 1% to in the first place.

As such, it is disappointing there is insufficient adaptation funding available for Caribbean SIDS. Even more disappointing is this continues to be intensified by controllable systemic factors, namely unrealistic finance application requirements from developed countries.

Everyone who claims to care about climate change should listen carefully to the experiences of those in the Caribbean and other SIDS. Especially those in countries contributing the most to global emissions. The consequences of years of our excessive emissions should not have to be on our own doorstep for us to acknowledge them.

Featured image credit: Russell Watkins/DFID.