Climate Sense

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Feasibility issues: mitigation and

adaptation to climate change in the Caribbean

Andrea M. Sealy, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology

n recent years, there has been increased awareness of the

vulnerability of the Caribbean to climate change and its

impacts. One such organization that has been working to

enhance the region’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change

is the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH).

As a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) designated

Regional Training Centre, CIMH has been involved in initiatives

such as the Small Island Developing States Caribbean project,

Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change, Adaptation

to Climate Change in the Caribbean and Mainstreaming Adaptation

to Climate Change. It also participates in the Global Environmental

Change and Food Systems initiative, which is an international,

interdisciplinary research project focused on understanding the

links between food security and global environmental change. In

addition, CIMH has designed the Caribbean Water Initiative with

McGill University’s Brace Center for Water Resources Management

and Caribbean partner governments to address the complex chal-

lenges of water management in the region.

Comprising of mostly small islands bounded by the northern,

eastern and south-eastern coasts of South, Central and North America

respectively, the Caribbean region is particularly susceptible to envi-

ronmental changes and impacts because of its geographic location and

make-up. Islands have a unique vulnerability to climate

change because of their relatively small size, limited natural

resources and land use, remoteness, high external transport

costs, time delays in accessing external goods and reduced

quality in information flow. Other factors that exacerbate

this region’s vulnerability include large coastal zones and

limited hazard forecasting capabilities, coupled with public

complacency. There are also economic and demographic

factors such as limited human resources, densely populated

coastal, urban and low-lying areas and small limited econo-

mies, which are dependent on high-risk industries such as

tourism and offshore banking.

Long-term predictions for small islands

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), rising sea

levels are likely to exacerbate flooding, storm surges,

erosion and coastal hazards, thus posing a serious threat

to the socioeconomic well-being of island communities.

This will certainly affect the Caribbean islands where

over half of the population lives within 1.5 kilometres

of the shoreline. AR4 also predicts that in most climate

change scenarios, small islands’ water resources are likely

dAptAtion

And

itigAtion

trAtegieS

Coral bleaching off the Florida coast

Bleached coral observed at Buck Island, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, October 2005 (left) and map of preliminary bleaching reports with qualitative severity as

reported by field observers from September to November, 2005 (right)

Source: NASA/Ames Research Center and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration