The In­ter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Red Cross and Red Cres­cent So­ci­eties (IFRC) and The Na­ture Con­ser­van­cy (TNC) are call­ing for gov­ern­ments to ur­gent­ly in­vest in cli­mate change adap­ta­tion mea­sures to tack­le the grow­ing cli­mate cri­sis in the Caribbean.

The call fol­lows two key cli­mate events—the 26th UN Cli­mate Change Con­fer­ence of Par­ties (COP26), and the 7th Re­gion­al Plat­form for Dis­as­ter Risk Re­duc­tion in the Amer­i­c­as and the Caribbean (RP21).

A joint state­ment is­sued by both or­gan­i­sa­tions ob­serves that in the Caribbean, storm events ac­count for US$7 bil­lion in loss­es in av­er­age per year (or US$135 bil­lion be­tween 1990 and 2008). Re­search in­di­cates that 70% of peo­ple in the Caribbean live near the coast, where vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty to cli­mate change is high­er.

Stud­ies al­so have shown that the im­pacts of cli­mate change are un­even­ly weight­ed against the most un­der­served peo­ple—those who are the poor­est, most ex­posed and have the least re­sources to with­stand cli­mate shocks and stress­es. In ad­di­tion, da­ta from the IFRC’s World Dis­as­ters Re­port 2020 re­veals that in­ter­na­tion­al cli­mate and dis­as­ter risk re­duc­tion fi­nance are not keep­ing pace with cli­mate adap­ta­tion needs in low-in­come coun­tries, and the coun­tries with the very high­est risk and low­est adap­tive ca­pac­i­ties are not be­ing pri­or­i­tized. In fact, less than 1 US dol­lar per per­son was made avail­able for cli­mate adap­ta­tion fund­ing in high vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty coun­tries.

“The pri­or­i­ty and fo­cus should be the com­mu­ni­ties that are most ex­posed and vul­ner­a­ble to cli­mate risks and the Caribbean re­gion has proven to be one of the most sus­cep­ti­ble to cli­mate-re­lat­ed dis­as­ters. There­fore, gov­ern­ments must en­sure that all ef­forts and ac­tions to ad­dress cli­mate change must pri­or­i­tize, and not leave be­hind, those most prone to its im­pacts,” said Vel­da Fer­gu­son Dews­bury, IFRC Project Man­ag­er for the Re­silient Is­lands by De­sign (RI) im­i­ta­tive in the Caribbean.

Red Cross so­ci­eties are on the fore­front of help­ing com­mu­ni­ties to pre­pare for, re­spond to, and re­cov­er from cli­mate-re­lat­ed dis­as­ters and see, every day, the ris­ing risks for vul­ner­a­ble peo­ple. Through projects like the Re­silient Is­lands, the IFRC in part­ner­ship with TNC, has been work­ing with com­mu­ni­ties to help them find in­no­v­a­tive, low-cost, and sus­tain­able na­ture-based adap­ta­tion and risk re­duc­tion mea­sures.

“Cli­mate change isn’t a dis­tant threat—it is hap­pen­ing now. We have all seen the vis­i­ble im­pacts of cli­mate change be­fore our eyes such as more ex­treme weath­er and nat­ur­al dis­as­ters, chron­ic drought and eco­nom­ic in­sta­bil­i­ty. While our work with the Red Cross is help­ing at-risk com­mu­ni­ties across the Caribbean to adapt to cli­mate change, with the pow­er of na­ture, we need more in­vest­ments in these and oth­er com­mu­ni­ties and we need joint ac­tions from all rel­e­vant stake­hold­ers,” said Ed­dy Sil­va, TNC RI Project Man­ag­er.

The IFRC and TNC are work­ing with com­mu­ni­ties in the Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Grena­da and Ja­maica help­ing them pro­tect and re­store nat­ur­al habi­tats, such as man­groves, that help re­duce the im­pact of se­vere storms and floods. Stud­ies in­di­cate that up to 65% of the in­crease in pro­ject­ed eco­nom­ic loss­es due to cli­mate change could be avert­ed through time­ly adap­ta­tion to cli­mate change. In ad­di­tion, na­ture-based so­lu­tions to min­i­mize cli­mate change can re­duce 37% of green­house gas emis­sions by 2030.

Re­silient Is­lands in­cor­po­rates ecosys­tem-based dis­as­ter risk re­duc­tion (Eco-DRR) mea­sures, that har­ness nat­ur­al sys­tems to pre­vent and re­duce nat­ur­al haz­ards and cli­mate change im­pacts. For ex­am­ple, by pro­tect­ing and sup­port­ing the growth of coral reefs that pro­vide cost-ef­fec­tive nat­ur­al bar­ri­ers, pro­tect­ing our coasts from waves, storms and floods, or by plant­i­ng more man­grove trees, which grow roots that mit­i­gate coastal ero­sion, pro­vide food and oth­er ser­vices, and serve as nurs­eries for a di­ver­si­ty of fish species. These ac­tions help com­mu­ni­ties re­duce their ex­po­sure to haz­ards by iden­ti­fy­ing and less­en­ing their vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties while at the same time en­hanc­ing their liveli­hood sources, as well as build­ing their ca­pac­i­ties and re­silience to pre­pare for and re­spond to emer­gen­cies.

The RI ini­tia­tive aims to pro­tect Caribbean peo­ple against the im­pacts of cli­mate change not just by pro­mot­ing the use of nat­ur­al coastal and ma­rine habi­tats to re­duce risks, but al­so by help­ing gov­ern­ments, part­ners and com­mu­ni­ties im­ple­ment sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment plans that pri­or­i­tize na­ture. Re­silient Is­lands is part of the In­ter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Ini­tia­tive (IKI). The Fed­er­al Min­istry for the En­vi­ron­ment, Na­ture Con­ser­va­tion and Nu­clear Safe­ty (BMU) sup­ports this ini­tia­tive on the ba­sis of a de­ci­sion adopt­ed by the Ger­man Bun­destag.

About IFRC:

IFRC is the world’s largest hu­man­i­tar­i­an net­work, com­pris­ing 192 Na­tion­al Red Cross and Red Cres­cent So­ci­eties work­ing to save lives and pro­mote dig­ni­ty around the world. www.ifrc.org - Face­book – Twit­ter – YouTube

About TNC:

TNC is the world’s largest na­ture or­ga­ni­za­tion, work­ing to tack­le cli­mate change, pro­tect land and wa­ter, pro­vide food and wa­ter sus­tain­ably and build healthy cities.