Climate Change in the Caribbean

Safeguarding Caribbean Biodiversity

With abundant and rich coral reefs, seagrass beds, mangrove swamps, and tropical rainforests, the Caribbean is a critical biodiversity hotspot. However, a cascade of interconnected crises is accelerating biodiversity loss at an alarming rate. As population and economic activities have increased in recent decades, the region’s biodiversity has been under significant stress. In addition, with projections showing a 2.7 degrees Celsius increase by 2100 in the global temperature—well above the 2015 Paris Agreement goal to hold the rise in temperatures by 1.5 degrees—scientists expect that climate change will likely become the main driver of biodiversity loss, posing long-lasting and irreversible changes to the ecosystem.

Extreme Weather Events and Resilience

Every year, extreme weather events like tropical cyclones, droughts, heat waves, and heavy rains expose Caribbeans to potentially life-threatening situations. As climate change intensifies, the region’s countries and territories must grapple with these increasingly devastating and other natural phenomena. Since reconstruction and recovery efforts will become more costly and difficult, the region has no option but to take effective measures to tackle the extreme impacts of climate change. Hence, by identifying the individual and shared challenges Caribbean countries and territories face in building effective resilience this report aims to provide concrete policy recommendations on how best to advance resilience building for the region.

Climate Change, Migration, and Indigenous and Tribal Peoples

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has projected that without ambitious human interventions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and anticipatory adaptation strategies, the multiple impacts of climate change will likely render some small island nations uninhabitable within this century. As a result, the disruptive nature of climate change will be a driver of potentially large-scale migration flows. Vulnerable communities, such as indigenous and tribal peoples, will be among the hardest hit—their geographical exposure to multiple natural hazards, high levels of poverty and unemployment, and lack of legal protection further exacerbate their vulnerability to climate change. The intertwined nature of these challenges requires thoughtful and innovative solutions from both Caribbean policymakers and their partners.

Climate Change and Illicit Economic Activities

Environmental crimes can bear dire consequences for those who live in the Caribbean and the broader global ecosystem. Holistic responses are needed to address the root causes of environmental crimes, but for many countries, the scope of illicit economic activity exceeds enforcement capacity. Since the repercussions of these crimes pertain to the national interests of states in the wider international community, the Caribbean should look to expand existing programmatic responses with support from various regional and extra-regional sources.

Climate Finance and the Caribbean

The costs of dealing with climate change are massive and daunting. Though the Caribbean is keenly aware of the risks posed by climate change and is working hard to raise levels of preparedness, resilience, and sustainability, the region is wrestling with financing the bills associated with such efforts. Hence, finding innovative solutions to unlock financing to adapt is one of the most pressing matters for the region. Without proper financing, its ecosystems and citizens will endure growing climate-related risks as the effects of climate change intensify.

The Future of the Blue Economy

The fight against climate change is at a critical inflection point, and, as such, it necessitates novel economic approaches. Caribbean governments looking toward the future know the regional economy needs to adopt a robust sustainability approach. The blue economy offers an exciting and creative path for Caribbean governments, private sectors, and non-profit organizations to play a major role in how the region interacts with its neighbors and what kind of future it will create for its population. This report defines the Blue Economy and offers recommendations for regional and extra-regional policymakers to introduce forward-thinking measures.

Press Release: Launch of the Climate Change in the Caribbean Project

Global Americans is proud to launch a research project to study climate change in the Caribbean. As a first step in this project, Global Americans has assembled a High-Level Working Group on Climate Change in the Caribbean, comprised of scholars, diplomats, and leaders in both the public and private sector. Over the coming months, Global Americans staff will collaborate with the High-Level Working Group to study the political, economic, and social consequences of climate change for the region.

Climate change knows no borders. A failure to address climate change today means the costs of that inaction will invariably be passed down to future generations. Perhaps no region in the world faces a graver threat from climate change than the Caribbean, which, despite its small contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions, still stands as one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world. Given rising global emissions, scientists expect the effects of natural disasters and sea-level rise to worsen by 2050, putting the livelihoods of people in the Caribbean at significant risk. As new climate-related events inevitably arise, international cooperation will be vital for disaster recovery and resilience. To promote collaboration between key U.S. and Caribbean actors, Global Americans has assembled policymakers, scholars, government officials, and civil society representatives to form a High-Level Working Group on Climate Change in the Caribbean. In addition to publishing a series of reports on the social, political, and economic impacts of climate change in the region, Global Americans will convene a series of public and private roundtables. These conversations will allow policymakers to engage across various issues under the climate change umbrella.

The fight against climate change is at a critical inflection point. Given that climate change will have global impacts, only enduring and coordinated efforts can adequately address the problem. Therefore, this project will provide an ongoing forum where U.S. and Caribbean representatives can collaboratively shape the hemisphere’s agenda on climate change. The project will address a myriad of climate change issues, including––among others––climate finance, climate resilience, illicit economic activities, and the future of the blue economy.

High-Level Working Group On Climate Change in the Caribbean

President Carlos Alvarado Quesada (Costa Rica, Co-Chair) Former President of the Republic of Costa Rica; Professor of Practice of Diplomacy, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Ine Apapoe (Suriname) Lecturer, Anton de Kom University
Verónica Arias (Ecuador) Executive Director, CC35
Dr. Anthony T. Bryan (Trinidad and Tobago) Non-resident Senior Associate, CSIS
Dr. Samantha Chaitram (Trinidad and Tobago) Lecturer, Trinidad and Tobago Police Training Academy
Amb. Anton Edmunds (St. Lucia) Senior Advisor on Caribbean Affairs, Inter-American Development Bank; Former St. Lucia Ambassador to the United States
Guy Edwards (United Kingdom) PhD Candidate, University of Sussex; Former Senior Consultant, Inter-American Development Bank
Dr. Georges Fauriol (United States) Fellow, Global Americans; Co-chair, Caribbean Policy Consortium
Allison Fedirka (United States) Director of Analysis, Geopolitical Futures
Dr. Richard Feinberg (United States) Member, Global Americans International Advisory Council; Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego
Shiloh Fetzek (United States) Senior Fellow, Center for Climate and Security
Leonel Fernández (Dominican Republic) Former President of the Dominican Republic; President, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo
Amb. Carlos C. Fuller (Belize) Belize Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Ama Francis (Dominica) Climate Displacement Project Strategist, International Refugee Assistance Project
Carlos Gentile (Argentina) Former State Secretary of Climate Change and Sustainable Development; Founding Partner, CICLA Desarrollo Sustentable
John Goedschalk (Suriname) Executive Director, Conservation International-Suriname
Ché Greenidge (Barbados) Executive Director, Barbados Environmental Conservation Trust
Dr. Ivelaw Griffith (Guyana) Fellow, Global Americans; Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Guyana
Rasheed Griffith (Barbados) Non-resident Senior Fellow, Inter-American Dialogue
Dr. Legena Henry (Trinidad and Tobago) Lecturer, University of the West Indies, Cavehill
Camila Idrovo (Colombia/United States) Practice Area Lead, Migration Pan-American Development Foundation
Amb. Riyad Insanally (Guyana) Former Guyana Ambassador to the United States and the OAS
Dr. Scott B. MacDonald (United States) Fellow, Global Americans; Chief Economist, Smith’s Research & Gradings
Dame Billie Miller (Barbados, Co-Chair) Member, Global Americans International Advisory Council; Former Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados
Anaitée Mills (Jamaica) Chair, Jamaica Energy Resilience Alliance
Amb. Luis Gilberto Murillo (Colombia, Co-Chair) Colombia Ambassador to the United States; Former Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia
Dr. Claire Nelson (Jamaica) Founder and Director, Institute of Caribbean Studies
Heiny Palacios (Colombia) Youth Environment Network Chocó, Lead Organizer
Dr. Justin Ram (Barbados) Former Director of Economics, Caribbean Development Bank
Ivan Rebolledo (United States) Chair, Global Americans Board of Directors; Managing Partner, TerraNova Strategic Partners LLC
Dr. Kevin Reed (United States) Associate Dean and Professor, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University
Alex Rosaria (Curaçao) Former Member, Parliament of Curaçao
Sir Ronald Sanders (Antigua and Barbuda) Antigua and Barbuda Ambassador to the United States and the OAS
Dr. Kalim Shah (Trinidad and Tobago) Assistant Professor, University of Delaware
Dr. Lorraine Sobers (Trinidad and Tobago) Lecturer, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine
Antonia Stolper (United States) Member, Global Americans Board of Directors; Of Counsel, Shearman & Sterling LLP
Amb. Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Thompson (Barbados, Co-Chair) Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations; Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations
Tulio Vera (Chile) Chair, Global Americans International Advisory Council; Former Managing Director, J.P. Morgan Latin America Private Bank
Lisa Viscidi (United States) Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting
Bruce Zagaris (United States) Partner, Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP