A Vision for an Holistic and Adaptive Conservation Model for The Bahamas

The challenges facing The Bahamas in conservation and climate change mitigation 

By Kathryn Campbell

Bahamas Information Services (BIS)

NASSAU, The Bahamas – In his remarks at the University of the Bahamas’ (UB) Conservation Conclave, the Hon. Vaughn Miller, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources presented five strategies for sustainable environmental practices. These strategies, said Minister Miller, aim to create a “holistic” and “adaptive” conservation model for The Bahamas, addressing the unique environmental challenges and fostering a sustainable coexistence between nature and human activities.

The strategies are:

Marine Protected Areas

Establish and expand Marine Protected Areas to safeguard critical marine habitats, including coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves. Implement strict regulations to manage human activities within these areas, promoting the recovery and resilience of marine ecosystems.

Sustainable Tourism Practices

Implement and enforce sustainable tourism practices to minimize the impact of tourism on delicate ecosystems. This includes promoting responsible snorkeling and diving, regulating boat traffic, and educating tourists and operators on the importance of preserving the marine environment.

Climate Resilience Programs

Develop and implement climate resilience programs to address the impact of climate change on the Bahamian environment. This includes initiatives to protect coastal areas from rising sea levels, strengthen infrastructure against extreme weather events, and promote climate-smart agriculture.

Community Engagement and Education

Foster community engagement through education and awareness programs. Empower local communities to actively participate in conservation efforts, emphasizing the importance of sustainable fishing practices, waste reduction, and the preservation of natural habitats.

Biodiversity Conservation Initiatives

Implement comprehensive biodiversity conservation initiatives to protect and restore native flora and fauna. This includes reforestation projects, invasive species management, and habitat restoration programs to enhance the overall resilience of terrestrial ecosystems.

The event, which addressed current challenges facing The Bahamas in conservation and climate change mitigation, was held February 1 and 2, 2024 at the National Training Agency, Gladstone Road, and a collaboration with GEF Small Grants Programme and Disney Conservation Fund. The conclave brought together public policy experts, scientists, activists, community stakeholders and industry stakeholders to discuss the important topic.

Said Minister Miller: “The recommendations reflect a collective effort to forge a path toward sustainable environmental practices, balancing the preservation of our unique ecosystems with the developmental needs of our communities.

“These strategies are not just a set of guidelines; they represent a shared commitment to safeguarding our natural heritage for generations to come.

“In considering these recommendations, let us recognize the delicate balance we must strike between progress and preservation. It is incumbent upon us, as stewards of this beautiful nation, to adopt innovative approaches that harmonize economic development with environmental sustainability.

“The strategies outlined here serve as a roadmap toward achieving this equilibrium.”

He urged the participants to lend their expertise, insights, and passion to the crucial 'dialogue.'

“Together, let us refine and amplify these recommendations to craft a conservation model that not only meets international standards but also serves as a beacon of responsible environmental management.

“The success of our efforts relies on collaboration — between government agencies, environmental organizations, communities, and individuals.

“Let this be a moment where we unite in purpose, inspired by a shared vision of a Bahamas where nature thrives alongside progress.”

The goals of the conclave included these aims: to develop a shared understanding of the spectrum of current challenges facing The Bahamas in conservation, climate change mitigation and national development; consensus building on proposed solutions to challenges related to conservation, scientific research, data sharing and environmental protection policy in The Bahamas; and an agreement on an action plan, decision-making process and a framework for recommendations required to move forward.

Moreover, it was hoped that the conclave would result in the production of a white paper which could advise the development of a national policy on conservation with recommendations for adoption by the Government of The Bahamas.

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US Congressmen Criticized Trump's Inclusion of Cuba on the Arbitrary and Unilateral List of State Sponsors of Terrorism and Urged Biden to Revoke It

U.S. Congressmen Ask Biden to Remove Cuba from Terrorist List

By Prensa Latina

Democratic congressmen from Massachusetts asked U.S. President Joe Biden to remove Cuba from the list of sponsors of terrorism, a designation issued at the end of Donald Trump's administration, The Hill newspaper reported.

Members of Congress criticized Trump's inclusion of Cuba on that arbitrary and unilateral list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and urged Biden to revoke it.

"It was a vindictive action taken by the Trump administration in January 2021 when it left office, and the policy should have changed by now," Democrats Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley wrote in a December letter that was not made public until now, according to the newspaper.

"In fact, Cuba and the United States have a bilateral counterterrorism cooperation agreement in place," the two congressmen stressed in the missive, also signed by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and Representatives Seth Moulton, Lori Trahan and Stephen Lynch.

The Democrats insisted on Biden's unfulfilled campaign promises on reviewing some of the coercive measures adopted by Trump (2017-2021) against Cuba.

"As a candidate for president, you promised to address a new engagement with Cuba and return to the policy initiated during the Obama-Biden administration, and we support you in this commitment," they reminded the current occupant of the Oval Office.

Trump included the Caribbean country on that list during his last week in office, and this imposed severe restrictions on the island's access to international financial markets, which limits its ability to do business with other countries and entities, which are forced to choose between trading with the U.S. or Cuba, the article added.

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Jokers of The Climate Fight

The International Climate Fight Jokers are Addicted To Flying!

By Dennis Dames

Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

The Climate Change Crusaders of The Universe are Chronic Frequent Flyers!

 

I am skeptical about the global climate issue as I follow our Prime Minister's and his international counterparts' dirty climate crusade around the world while travelling shamelessly in one of the worst climate change guilty party, the airplane.

This makes the subject of climate change look like a scam, because on the one hand – they are contributing to the climate change of which they talk about- by flying here, there and everywhere; then they gather in person often in some country on the planet to tell us that action is needed now to reverse the unwelcomed trend of climate change.

Why do the leaders of the world love to fly so much to various conferences around the globe when technology has advanced to the point where they can comfortably sit their backsides in their respective offices, and spill their guts together on any issue of global concern?

I suspect the answer to that is- that all of them just simply love to fly, and are arrogant enough to tell us, ‘Don’t do what we do – but what we say do.’

It must be a dirty flying joke coming from a gang of climate change hypocrites who cannot stop flying around the globe on the planet polluting jets.

The Rise of Gang Violence in Haiti

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office and the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), calls for the urgent deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission authorized by the UN Security Council in October, in accordance with international human rights norms and standards

GENEVA/PORT-AU-PRINCE (28 November 2023) - A new UN report out today details a further, shocking rise in gang violence in Haiti as criminal gangs forge alliances and expand to rural areas previously considered safe – killing, raping, kidnapping, and destroying property, among other abuses.

The report, released by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), calls for the urgent deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission authorized by the UN Security Council in October, in accordance with international human rights norms and standards.  Increased efforts will need to be deployed to strengthen Haiti’s rule of law institutions, in particular the police, the judiciary, and the prison system, the report notes.

The report focuses on the Bas-Artibonite district, located in Central Haiti, about 100 kilometres from the capital Port-au-Prince, which has seen a significant rise in gang violence in the last two years.  Between January 2022 and October 2023, at least 1,694 people were killed, injured, or kidnapped in Bas-Artibonite.

Kidnapping for ransom by criminal groups has become a constant fear for users of public transport across Bas-Artibonite, the report states.  The story of Darleine, a 22-year-old woman is one of many: she was dragged off a bus in March this year by gang members, who held her captive for over two weeks and repeatedly beat and raped her.  A few weeks after she was released, she committed suicide.

The report documents criminal groups rampaging through “rival” villages, executing local people and using sexual violence against women and even very young children.  The groups also loot farmers’ properties, crops and livestock and destroy irrigation canals, contributing to the displacement of more than 22,000 people from their villages and significantly reducing the amount of cultivated land, heightening food insecurity.  In September 2023, more than 45 per cent of the population of Bas-Artibonite was in a situation of acute food insecurity.  Gang violence has also left many farming families unable to repay their debts or to access basic services.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned that across Haiti, at least 3,960 people have been killed, 1,432 injured and 2,951 kidnapped in gang-related violence this year alone.

“The situation in Haiti is cataclysmic.  We are continuing to receive reports of killings, sexual violence, displacement and other violence – including in hospitals,” Türk said.

“With terrible violence against the population expanding – within and outside Port-au-Prince – and the inability of the police to stop them, the much-needed Multinational Security Support mission needs to be deployed to Haiti as soon as possible,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said.

The High Commissioner stressed that the support mission must include internal oversight mechanisms and other safeguards to ensure its compliance with international human rights norms and standards.

Given the worsening violence and further to the October 2023 report of the UN Panel of Experts on Haiti, the report also calls on the Security Council to update the list of individuals and entities subject to UN sanctions for supporting, preparing, ordering, or committing acts contrary to international human rights law.

“There needs to be continued emphasis on the implementation of the arms embargo and sanctions targeting those behind this untenable situation,” the High Commissioner said.

“I also call on the Haitian authorities to fulfil their international human rights obligations and to put in place robust measures to strengthen the country’s institutions and improve governance, including by tackling corruption and addressing impunity.”

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Partners in Climate Financing Solution

The fight against climate change is only just beginning, and soon enough we will need to rely on a new generation of environmental leaders...

The Bahamas Prime Minister, Philip Davis’ Remarks at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

Fellow Heads of State and Ministers, 

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning:

I’ll begin by thanking the people and the government of Grenada for hosting us so graciously; it is wonderful to be here together.

I know we’re all looking forward to building on the progress we made last year in The Bahamas.

It is a source of great encouragement that our region, home to such a beautiful and vast diversity of peoples and languages and societies, can unite on key issues as we confront a new era of climate crisis.

The urgency of our work could not be clearer.

Even in the best-case scenarios – even if the world can make significant progress in reducing fossil fuel emissions (progress that in reality is far from assured) – for the foreseeable future, our region will continue to experience warming oceans, rising waters, and more intense hurricanes.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, more than a trillion tons of carbon dioxide have been released into our earth’s atmosphere.

Try as they might to skirt around the issue, the industrialized North will need to make the most sizable adjustments.  It is, after all, their development which has brought us to this point.

We must call on our partners in the North to deliver on the commitment they made at COP15 in Copenhagen, to mobilise US$100 billion per year by 2021.  This is the very same goal, which was reiterated at COP21 in Paris, and extended to 2025.

To date, they have yet to reach this target.

My friends, it makes no sense shooting arrows at new targets, when the bullseye of two decades before has yet to be hit.

As COP28 approaches, it is crucial that we, the developing countries on the frontlines of the climate crisis, hold the developed world to account.  Whether they honour their commitments could mean the difference between a mere disturbance and another Dorian – that devastating Category 5 super storm, the likes of which my country had never seen and is still recovering from.

To further the interests of the Caribbean, which are much the same as small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, we must speak as one region, united by clear ideas and a common purpose.  We may operate in different geopolitical contexts, but we all lie in the same hurricane alley, we all rely, to a certain extent, on the tourist economy, and we all share common strands of a beautiful island culture under threat.

Let us use this occasion to marry our voices, to make ourselves heard.

I pushed for this regular meeting on the UN calendar because I strongly believe that the Caribbean can accomplish anything it sets its mind to.

I grew up on a small island in The Bahamas that is big on community.  It was the kind of tight knit place where even your neighbours felt like family, and that is exactly how I feel about all of you.

My brothers and sisters, ours is a common heritage, and a shared future.  Let us use this forum to identify our priorities, focus our efforts, and fight for a sustainable future.   A future in which the months from June to November do not spell certain doom for the countries of the Caribbean.

Key to a future in which our region flourishes will be our sustained commitment to seeing a loss and damage fund come to full fruition.  The adoption of this fund at COP27 was a remarkable achievement of Caribbean solidarity, one which we cannot afford to let fall by the wayside.

The time has come to double down on our efforts.  To tell these developed nations to “write the cheque”, as they have kicked the can down the road for far too long.  We cannot leave COP28 without the first pledge for funding identified.  This is no minor undertaking.  But if they are the big tree, we are the small axe!

And just as we hold the developed world to account, so too must we take active strides to enhance our own climate resilience.

Last week, I travelled to New York to take part in the Clinton Global Initiative, a community of doers committed to addressing the most pressing issues of our time.  At that forum, I was pleased to announce a new initiative, The Bahamas Sustainable Investment Programme or “BSIP” – a three-year economic and investment programme that is aligned with our Paris Agreement pledges and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

If The Bahamas, or indeed the Caribbean, is to succeed, we cannot be passive actors.  We must find our own solutions.  With this programme, we are spearheading our own climate financing solution, and we invite the region, and the world, to partner with us.

Much like the Bridgetown Initiative, this is about more than just expanding access to funding, it’s about developing a practical pathway to climate justice and global equity.

It goes without saying that the present international financial process is unsustainable.  I would go as far as to call it egregious.  As SIDS, we are grappling with colossal impacts of a climate crisis we did not precipitate.  We are shouldering disproportionate debt burdens.  In some cases, such as in The Bahamas, climate change-related debt amounts to over half of total GDP.  This is not only an enormous figure, it is an unjust figure.

International financial institutions need to be overhauled to deliver on a fit-for-purpose approach to lending due to loss and damage from climate impacts.  These institutions, in tandem with International Multilateral Development Banks, must re-evaluate their purpose, approach, and objectives when dealing with SIDS.  An appropriately weighted, multidimensional vulnerability index must be adopted, if access to concessional development finance is to be made available to the states which need it most.

Despite the daunting task ahead of us, I do believe we can get it done.  I do believe our region is on the cusp of an exodus – a journey out of vulnerability, and into resilience.

Fundamental to this quest will be our ability to engage and empower our youth.  For the Caribbean to go from strength to strength, we must edify, uplift, and enlist the assistance of our youth.  The fight against climate change is only just beginning, and soon enough we will need to rely on a new generation of environmental leaders.

If the youth of our region are to blaze trails, we must first light a fire inside them.  So let us welcome the next generation into the fold.  Let us harness their fresh perspectives and critical agility, as we embark on a path toward greater Caribbean resilience.

Brothers and sisters, I look forward to witnessing the outcomes of this important meeting, and I applaud the incoming Chair, Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, for taking up the mantle.  The resolutions we establish today will surely be critical in safeguarding our shared tomorrow. 

Thank you, and may God bless you all.

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The Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Latin America and the Caribbean

Can Latin America and the Caribbean Unlock AI’s Potential While Mitigating Its Perils?

To fully capitalize on AI’s transformative power for Latin America and the Caribbean, policymakers, businesses, and societies must proactively address challenges related to ethics, workforce adaptation, cybersecurity, and global collaboration

By Eric Parrado

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a disruptive force that promises to reshape economies across the globe.  With its ability to process vast amounts of data, learn from patterns, and make intelligent decisions, AI holds immense potential to revolutionize various sectors, increase productivity, and drive economic growth.  However, as we navigate this transformative era, it is crucial to carefully consider both the opportunities and challenges of AI for Latin America and the Caribbean.

AI technology offers several key features that can significantly impact our economies:

Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency.  AI’s ability to automate repetitive tasks and augment human capabilities can unlock substantial productivity gains.  By streamlining processes, optimizing resource allocation, and improving decision-making, AI has the potential to boost overall economic output.  Recent studies validates this empirically, showing that AI adoption is boosting firms’ productivity.

Job Creation and Skill Enhancement.  AI, when properly managed and regulated, has the potential to stimulate the growth of certain job types that complement technology.  While automation may render some roles obsolete, new opportunities will emerge in the fields of AI research, development, implementation, and maintenance.  In fact, recent evidence suggest that AI adoption correlates with growing vacancies in AI-related jobs.  Moreover, AI could allow workers to concentrate on tasks that require human interaction and emotional intelligence, where humans have a clear comparative advantage.

Improved Decision-Making.  AI-powered algorithms can process vast amounts of data and generate valuable insights for better decision-making.  From financial markets to supply chain management, AI’s ability to analyze complex patterns and predict outcomes can help businesses and governments optimize strategies, reduce risks, and allocate resources more effectively.

Innovation and Economic Growth.  AI constitutes not only an innovation by itself, but also has the potential of being “a new method of invention”.  It can spur innovation by enabling breakthroughs in various industries.  From healthcare and transportation to agriculture and energy, AI-driven advancements can lead to the development of new products, services, and business models, driving economic growth and competitiveness.

While the potential benefits are significant, there are crucial considerations to address to harness AI’s transformative power responsibly:

Ethical and Legal Concerns.  The use of AI raises ethical questions around privacy, bias, accountability, and transparency.  Clear guidelines and regulations must be established to ensure that AI systems are fair, transparent, and accountable, protecting individuals’ rights and fostering trust.

Cognitive Automation and the Decline of Labor.  As AI improves its ability to perform a wide range of cognitive tasks, many types of cognitive labor may be automated in the coming decades, particularly as the cost of implementing and maintaining algorithms continues to decrease.  This trend could have severe consequences on employment.  In fact, evidence already shows that recent technology innovations, for example robots, have reduced employment and wages.  If AI follows a similar trend, this could have profound consequences, especially in developing countries where labor is the primary factor of production.

Inequality.  Technological innovations do not automatically translate into shared prosperity.  Instead, they can sometimes lead to increased inequality, particularly if they show high automation potential.  This is partly because automation can increase returns to capital while reducing wages.  Therefore, it’s crucial for civil society to advocate for equitable regulations, including the taxation of AI firms, to ensure that technological innovations benefit everyone.

Governments and businesses should also prioritize training programs, so workers are equipped with the necessary skills for the AI-driven economy.  Efforts should be made to ensure a just, inclusive transition, minimizing the impact on vulnerable populations.

Bias and Inequities.  AI systems are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on.  If biased data is used to train AI algorithms, those can amplify and perpetuate existing social, economic, and racial biases.  This can result in unfair outcomes, such as discriminatory hiring practices or biased lending decisions, affecting marginalized groups and exacerbating inequality.  Ensuring fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI systems is crucial to mitigating these risks.

Concentration of Economic Power.  AI-driven advancements may concentrate economic power in the hands of a few dominant players.  Large technology companies that possess the resources to develop and deploy AI systems could gain a competitive advantage, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities.  Smaller businesses or industries without access to AI capabilities may struggle to keep up, leading to a consolidation of economic power in favor of those who can harness AI effectively.

Influence on Democratic Processes.  AI can potentially impact democratic processes, including elections and public discourse.  The use of AI-powered algorithms in targeted advertising or social media platforms can shape public opinion, potentially leading to echo chambers and the spread of misinformation.  This raises concerns about the integrity of democratic decision-making, the influence of AI-driven algorithms on political discourse, and the need for transparency and accountability in AI applications that affect public opinion.

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy.  As AI systems rely on vast amounts of data, safeguarding privacy and preventing unauthorized access become paramount. Protecting data infrastructure, implementing robust cybersecurity measures, and establishing comprehensive data protection frameworks are crucial to maintain public trust and mitigate risks.

Other recommendations, which should be tailored to specific national contexts, will also be crucial to maximizing AI’s advantages for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Foster Digital Infrastructure.  Invest in robust digital infrastructure, including high-speed internet access, to support the adoption and utilization of AI technologies.  This will enable businesses, organizations, and individuals to leverage the benefits of AI and participate in the digital economy effectively.

Promote AI Research and Development.  Allocate resources to support AI research and development in collaboration with academic institutions, private sector entities, and research centers.  Encouraging innovation and knowledge creation will contribute to the development of AI expertise within the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and foster homegrown AI solutions.

Enhance Education and Skills Development.  Prioritize educational programs that equip individuals with the necessary skills for the AI-driven economy.  Foster partnerships between educational institutions and industry to develop AI-related curricula and provide training opportunities, ensuring a workforce capable of leveraging AI technologies effectively.

Support Entrepreneurship and Startups.  Create a conducive environment for AI startups and entrepreneurs by offering financial incentives, access to funding, and mentorship programs.  Foster innovation ecosystems and facilitate collaboration between startups, established businesses, and research institutions to drive AI-driven entrepreneurship.

Encourage Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing.  Promote collaboration among governments, academia, private sector entities, and civil society organizations at regional and international levels.  Facilitate knowledge sharing, exchange of experiences, and collaborative initiatives to address common challenges and leverage shared expertise in AI.  Establishing common ethical standards, sharing best practices, and promoting international cooperation can help address challenges such as data governance, intellectual property rights, and algorithmic transparency.

Invest in AI for Social Impact.  Encourage the application of AI in addressing social challenges, such as those in education, healthcare, food security, and poverty alleviation, among others.  Support AI-driven solutions that have a positive impact on marginalized communities, enhance public services, and promote inclusive development.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to revolutionize economies, enhancing productivity, driving innovation, and creating new opportunities.  To fully capitalize on AI’s transformative power for Latin America and the Caribbean, policymakers, businesses, and societies must proactively address challenges related to ethics, workforce adaptation, cybersecurity, and global collaboration.  By doing so, they can shape a future where AI serves as a catalyst for inclusive economic growth, while upholding human values and safeguarding societal well-being.

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Latin America and the Caribbean face immense challenges as the economic impacts of climate change take deeper root

Confronting the Economic Effects of Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean

 

With the last seven years registering the hottest temperatures in recorded history, Latin America and the Caribbean not only faces the direct effects of climate change;  it confronts a host of indirect economic effects potentially made worse by development challenges, including low economic growth, high poverty, inequality, and fiscal vulnerabilities

By Eduardo Cavallo - Bridget Hoffmann

Latin America and the Caribbean.
Cartography by Jeff Wandersen

Searing temperatures; rising sea levels.  Rainfall, drought, and hurricanes that grow more threatening and intense.  With the last seven years registering the hottest temperatures in recorded history, Latin America and the Caribbean not only faces the direct effects of climate change.  It confronts a host of indirect economic effects potentially made worse by development challenges, including low economic growth, high poverty, inequality, and fiscal vulnerabilities.

With that in mind, the Red de Centros, a decades-old IDB initiative to fund research papers from the region, recently commissioned and published a series of studies on the economic impacts of our warming planet, ranging from the impact of drought on indigenous women in Chile, to the effect of weather disasters on trade, and the inequalities of adaptation.  Those articles, published recently with others on the topic in the journal Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, seek to deepen knowledge and inform solutions in the midst of our historically unprecedented change in weather.

The Wide Sweep of Climate Change Effects

The studies and the broader literature on climate change offer new evidence of the wide sweep of a changing climate’s impacts.  Intensified warming is affecting and will continue to affect economic growth, trade, and human capital.  It could also have negative impacts on inequality, both between countries and regions and between citizens inside national borders.

One grave concern is the impact on the poor, who are especially exposed to climate risks.  They lose a greater share of their wealth when disasters hit, have less access to financial resources to confront climate-related emergencies, and fewer insurance mechanisms available to them.  Indeed, they suffer from both the short- and long-term effects of climate change.  A study of household electricity consumption in Colombia by Shaun McRae, for example, shows how wealthier households use air conditioning to a significantly greater extent to cope with higher temperatures than poor ones.  While electricity consumption by lower-income families more than doubled in the country between 2011 and 2019 and the gap in the use of air conditioners is narrowing, significant disparities remain in the ownership and use of them between low and high-income households in hot regions of Colombia. Many households remain unprotected.

A study by Rodrigo Pérez, Mayarí Castillo, and Chiari Cazzuffi reveals another dimension of these inequalities: how indigenous women in Chile have been harmed by one of the most prolonged droughts in the country’s history.  Not only have they been unable to reap as much from their small agricultural plots.  They also must dedicate more of their time to unpaid activities such as buying water, fetching water from distant rivers for household chores, and going to the rivers to bathe and wash.  As a result, they face a larger decrease in income compared to other groups, a reality exacerbated by long-standing economic and social vulnerabilities which make it difficult for them to emigrate to more hospitable climes.

Inequalities Between Regions

Inequalities between geographic regions also come into play.  A paper by Preeya Mohan reveals the particular vulnerabilities of Eastern Caribbean island states to the intensifying tropical storms of climate change, compared to other regions, given their high dependence on international trade.  A 20% fall in their exports in the month following such a storm and up to three months after, she finds, can reduce income, employment and tax revenues to fund post-disaster recovery.

There is little doubt that the low and middle-income countries of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole will be disproportionately harmed by climate change.  A recent study, for example, finds that low- and middle-income countries suffer an average loss of between 2.1 and 3.7 percentage points of GDP in the aftermath of climate-related disasters involving high human mortality, and that growth rates in later years are unable to sufficiently compensate for those losses.  Moreover, poorer countries, with their less diversified economies, are less able to absorb geographically localized shocks by shifting funds and resources between sectors and regions.  That is particularly the case for Caribbean island states.  But it is also the case for other countries in the region.

The Fiscal Ramifications of Extreme Weather Events

The ramifications for countries already struggling with fiscal deficits and debt will be significant.  The average fiscal costs of extreme weather events in the region was between 0.2% and 0.3% of GDP for the 2001-2019 period, more than 10% of the average fiscal deficit (2.6%) in those years.  Some alternative financing tools available include reserve funds (which imply saving to build up a reserve), contingency credit lines (for example, the IDB’s Contingent Credit Facility for Natural Disasters – CCF), regional risk pools (like the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility – CCRIF), or catastrophic insurance.  These instruments could potentially alleviate short-term fiscal pressures, such as those created after a hurricane.  But more research has to be done to really determine their potential fiscal impact.

Latin America and the Caribbean face immense challenges as the economic impacts of climate change take deeper root.  From negative effects on growth and poverty to those on inequality and fiscal stability, the region is entering a new era where climate change will assume an ever more prominent role in its destiny, compelling policymakers and researchers to redouble their efforts to find resilient, equitable and sustainable strategies to alleviate the harshest effects of rising temperatures and extreme weather events.  The contribution of Red de Centros and the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change journal are important stepping stones along this journey — one that we still have a long way to travel.

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