Keywords
climate justice
adaptation
vulnerability
SIDS
existential threat
Abstract
The past two decades have seen a significant shift in the Caribbean’s development landscape, with climate change becoming the focal point of regional policy and planning. These initiatives represent a major shift in the region’s development policy arena—a shift that is premised on the transformational, if not apocalyptic, implications that anthropogenic climate change seem to pose for the Caribbean. The discourses that have shaped this policy shift and their wider implications for the region’s future development trajectory are the central focus of this paper. First, we provide an overview of the current climate change science literature for the Caribbean and discuss some of the main implications for regional development. We then trace and assess the region’s major policy responses to climate change, paying keen attention to the Caribbean Community’s strategic approach for promoting climate compatible development over the past two decades. We conclude by critically exploring the notion that global climate change poses an ‘existential threat’ to the Caribbean, amidst its potential to erode or even reverse whatever developmental gains the region has achieved since the post-independence era and the region’s own state of readiness to respond effectively to such an unprecedented challenge.
References
Adger et al. 2008. “Are there societal limits to adaptation to climate change?” Climatic Change 93(3):335-354. Bankoff, G. 2007. “Comparing Vulnerabilities. Toward Charting an Historical Trajectory of Disasters.” Historcal Social Research 32(3 Special Issue: Historical Disaster Research. Concepts, Methods and Case Studies, ed. by Gerrit Schenk and Jens-Ivo Engels):103-114.
Baptiste, A.K., and R. Kinlocke. 2016. “We are not all the same!: Comparative
climate change vulnerabilities among fishers in Old Harbour Bay, Jamaica.” Geoforum 73(1):47-59.
Baptiste, A.K., and K. Rhiney. 2016. “Climate justice and the Caribbean: An introduction.” Geoforum 73(1):17-21.
Barker, D., 2012. “Caribbean agriculture in a period of global change: Vulnerabilities and opportunities.” Caribbean Studies 40(2):41-61.
Barnett, J., and S.J. O’Neill. 2012. “Islands, resettlement and adaptation.” Nature Climate Change 2:8-10.
Becken, S., and J. Hay. 2007. Tourism and Climate Change: Risks and Opportunities. Clevedon: Channel View Publications.
Benjamin, L., and A. Thomas. 2016. “1.5C to stay alive? AOSIS and the long term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement.” IUCN Acad. Environ. Law e-Journal 7:122-129 .
Thomas, A., and L. Benjamin. 2018. “Management of loss and damage in small island developing states: implications for a 1.5 C or warmer world.” Regional Environmental Change 18(8):2369-2378.
Berringer, A.C.S. 2012. “Climate change and emigration: comparing “sinking islands” and Jamaica.” Miradas en movimiento 1:125-141.
Bishop, M.L., and A. Payne. 2012. “Climate Change and the Future of Caribbean Development.” The Journal of Development Studies 48(10):1536-1553. Adapting to Climate Change in the Caribbean... 77
Boswell, T.D. 2009. “The Caribbean: a geographic preface,” in: R.S. Hillman, T.J. D’Agostino, eds. Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean, second ed. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc., 19-23. CCCCC. 2013a. Closed Projects: 2001-2004 Adaptation to Climate Change in the Caribbean Project (ACCC). Available online: <http://www.caribbean climate.bz/closed-projects/2001-2004-adaptation-to-climate-change-in-
the-caribbean-project-accc.html>.
———. 2013b. Mainstreaming and Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC). Available online: <http://www.caribbeanclimate.bz/closed projects/2004- 2007-mainstreaming-adaptation-to-climate-change-macc.html>.
———. 2011. Special Programme for Adaptation to Climate Change (SPACC): Implementation of Adaptation Measures in Coastal Zones. Available online: <2011.200.32.211.67/M-Files/openfile.aspx?objtype=0&docid=4174>.
Cashman, A., L. Nurse, and J. Charlery. 2010. “Climate change in the Caribbean: the water management implications.” Journal of Environment and Development 19(1):42-67.
Chen, P.-Y., C-C. Chen, L. Chu, and B. McCarl. 2015. “Evaluating the economic damage of climate change on global coral reefs.” Global Environmental Change 30:12-20.
Dodman, D., D. McGregor, and D. Barker. 2009. “Beyond Caribbean Vulnerability: Towards resistance and resilience,” in D. McGregor, D. Dodman and D. Barker, eds. Global Change and Caribbean Vulnerability. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 365-384.
Du Pont, Y.R. et al. 2017. “Equitable mitigation to achieve the Paris Agreement goals.” Nat. Clim. Change 7:38-43.
Fawcett, A. et al. 2015. “Can Paris pledges avert severe climate change?” Science 350(6265):1168-1169.
Gamble, D.W., and S. Curtis. 2008. “Caribbean precipitation: review, model and prospect.” Progress in Physical Geography 32(3):265-276.
Girvan, N. 2010. “Are Caribbean countries facing existential threats?” Caribbean360. Retrieved April 15, 2019 <http://www.caribbean360.com/opinion/are_caribbean_countries_facing_existential_ threats>.
Goodman, J.E. 2016. “The climate dialectic in energy policy: Germany and India compared.” Energy Policy 99(C):184-193.
Hall, T.C., A.M. Sealy, T.S. Stephenson, S. Kuusunoki, M. Taylor, A. Chen and A. Kitoh. 2013. “Future climate of the Caribbean from a super-high resolution atmospheric general circulation model.” Theoretical and Applied Climatology 113:271-287.
IPCC. 2013. “Summary for Policymakers,” in: T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, et al. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———. 2014. “Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report.” In: Pachauri, R.K. and L.A. Meyer, eds. Contributions of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC: Geneva.
———, 2018. “Summary for Policymakers,” in: V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, et. al, eds. Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. IPCC: Geneva.
Kelman, I., J.C. Gaillard, J. Lewis, and J. Mercer. 2016. “Learning from the History of Disaster: Vulnerability and Resilience Research and Practice for Climate Change.” Natural Hazards 82(1):129-143.
Klein, N. 2018. The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Look, C., E. Friedman, and G. Godbout. 2019. “The resilience of land tenure regimes during hurricane Irma: how colonial legacies impact disaster response and recovery in Antigua and Barbuda.” Journal of Extreme Events, 6(1):1940004.
McGregor, D., D. Barker, K. Rhiney and T. Edwards. 2016. “Adaptation and Resilience: Changing Caribbean Perspectives,” in: D. Barker, D. McGregor, K. Rhiney, and T. Edwards, eds. Global Change and the Caribbean: Adaptation and Resilience. Kingston: The University of the West Indies Press and JN Foundation, 3-18.
Mimura, N., L. Nurse, R.F. McLean, et al. 2007. “Small islands,” in: M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson, eds.
Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to The Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 687-716.
Nurse, L.A., R.F. McLean, J. Agrd, L.P. Briguglio, V. Duvat-Magnan, N. Pelesikoti, E. Tompkins, and A. Webb. 2014. “Small islands,” in: V.R. Barros,
C.B. Field, D.J. Dokken, M.D. Mastrandrea, et. al., eds. Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects.
Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1613-1654.
Oliver-Smith, A. 2002. “Theorizing Disaster. Nature, Power, and Culture,” in: S.M. Hoffmann, and A. Oliver-Smith, eds. Catastrophe and Culture. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 23-47.
Palanisamy, H., M. Becker, B. Meyssignac, O. Henry, and A. Cazenave. 2012. “Regional sea level change and variability in the Caribbean Sea since 1950.” Journal of Geodetic Science 2(2):125-133.
Perrette, M., F. Landerer, R. Riva, K. Frieler and M. Meinshausen. 2013. “A Scaling Approach to Project Regional Sea Level Rise and its Uncertainties.” Earth System Dynamics 4:11-29.
Plumer, B., and N. Popovich. 2018. “Why half a degree of global warming is a big deal.” New York Times, October 7.
Popke, J., S. Curtis and D. Gamble. 2016. “A social justice framing of climate change discourse and policy: Adaptation, resilience and vulnerability in a Jamaican agricultural landscape.” Geoforum 73:70-80.
Pulwarty, R.S., L.A. Nurse, and U.O. Trotz. 2010. “Caribbean Islands in a changing climate.” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development 52(6):16-27.
Rahmstorf, S. 2007. “A Semi-Empirical Approach to Projecting Future Sea-Level Rise.” Science 315:368-370.
Ramanathan, V., and Y. Feng. 2008. “On avoiding dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system: Formidable challenges ahead.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(38):14245-14250.
Rhiney, K. 2015. “Geographies of Vulnerability in a Changing Climate: Lessons from the Caribbean.” Geography Compass 9(3):97-114.
Rhiney, K. 2018. “Recipe for resilience? Tracing the biopolitics of Sint Maarten’s recovery efforts after Irma.” Journal of Extreme Events 5(4):1840002.
Rhiney, K., Eitzinger, A., Farrell, A. and S. Praeger. 2018. “Assessing the biophysical and socio-economic consequences of a 1.5C world on Jamaica’s agriculture sector.” Regional Environmental Change 18(8):2313-2327.
Rogelj, J., et al., 2016. “Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C.” Nature 534:631-639.
Rohland, E. 2019. Changes in the air: hurricanes in New Orleans from 1718 to the present. New York and Oxford: Berghahn.
Scott, D., M.C. Simpson and R. Sim. 2012. “The vulnerability of Caribbean coastal tourism to scenarios of climate change related sea level rise.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 20(6):883-898.
Sealey-Huggins, L. 2017. “1.5C to stay alive: climate change, imperialism and justice for the Caribbean.” Third World Quarterly 38(11):2444-2463.
Smith, R. & K. Rhiney. 2015. “Climate Change, Vulnerability, Land and Liveli hoods: The case of the Black Caribs in Northeastern St. Vincent.” Geoforum 73(1):22-31
Spencer, A. 2019. Travel and Tourism in the Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities for Small Island Developing States. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Taylor, M., J. Jones, and T. Stephenson. 2017. “Climate Change and the Caribbean: trends and implications,” in: E. Thomas-Hope, ed. Climate Change and Food Security: Africa and the Caribbean. London: Routledge, 31-55.
Thomas, A. and L. Benjamin. 2018. “Management of loss and damage in small island developing states: implications for a 1.5 C or warmer world.” Regional environmental change 18(8):2369-2378.
Trotz, U. and S. Lindo. 2013. “Vulnerability and resilience building in CARICOM countries.” Small Island Dig 2:25-39.
United Nations. 1994. Report of the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. Available online: <http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_sids/sids_pdfs/BPOA.pdf>.
UNFCCC. 2015. Adoption of the Paris Agreement (1/CP.21). United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Paris.