In an instant, a community can be levelled to the ground and a country’s prospects for sustainable growth destroyed. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian devastated the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama in The Bahamas. Many lives were lost, hundreds are still missing, and thousands of Bahamians lost their homes and access to essential services. The estimated material losses were US$3.4 billion, a quarter of the country’s GDP. The Prime Minister, Philip Davis, spoke recently to the victims: “I have shared your stories with leaders around the world. It’s important to me that they know the true cost of climate change. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels made many big countries very wealthy, but they also made hurricanes more frequent and more intense. Those same countries need to live up to their pledges to countries like ours–we who have contributed almost nothing to this crisis–so that we can adapt and become more resilient.”
Climate change has claimed many victims and poses a threat to the global economy and to achieving SDGs, underscoring the importance of building effective disaster resilience. Besides putting the COP26 agenda into practice, the G20 has a collective responsibility to implement a disaster resilience roadmap. Any conversation on disaster resilience at a global forum, however, needs the voice, experience, and knowledge of Caribbean states. While resilience has become a buzzword in the international community after COVID-19 and its shock on all aspects of well-being, it is not a new concept or policy paradigm for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and other Caribbean nations.[i] In this region, resilience lies at the centre of citizens’ daily lives and the work of government and regional institutions.
For decades, these nations have addressed resilience from different perspectives: energy resilience, economic resilience, citizenry resilience, and climate and disaster resilience. The Caribbean and Latin America is the second-most hazard-prone region in the world in terms of the number of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides, and droughts. Yet, it produced less than 10 percent of total global carbon emissions. A 2018 USAID study of 11 Eastern and Southern Caribbean nations indicates that these countries, on average, contribute only 2.42 percent of global total carbon emissions. Within the Western Hemisphere, Caribbean countries and Central America are the “greatest victims of climate change.” Even though Caribbean nations are not top contributors to climate change, they bear high costs.
The cost of climate change will continue to rise as hazards intensify. While from 1980 to 1995, there were 42 major hurricanes recorded in the North Atlantic Ocean, there were 78 from 2000 to 2021. Structural characteristics of most Caribbean economies also pose a disadvantage in ensuring financial resources to build effective preparedness, response, and recovery mechanisms. Economic growth is highly dependent on exogenous sources of income, such as tourism. When a disaster hits, the economy collapses as the influx of tourists halts. Governments already under fiscal stress incur high-cost debt for urgent recovery and rebuilding efforts. The debt-to-GDP ratio in two-thirds of Caribbean nations is above 60% percent, higher than the average of developing economies. Additionally, favourable international financing terms are conditioned by a per capita GDP income classification formula, which does not capture reality and needs. For instance, Barbados is classified as a high-income economy, and its total public debt-to-GDP is 131.9 percent.
Moreover, empowering existing local and regional capacities that have made substantial progress in disaster response efforts is critical. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), a CARICOM inter-governmental agency for disaster management[ii], is tasked with promoting Comprehensive Disaster Management that includes preparedness, response, recovery, and rehabilitation. Recently, the agency launched the Caribbean Resilient Recovery Facility to improve recovery capacity and foster greater coordination between countries and regional and international actors. The agency also focuses on strengthening early warning systems in collaboration with the international community. CDEMA is adopting digital transformation tools to increase coordination efficiency and improve data collection and analysis. There is still work to be done, and more resources could be tapped from G20 countries, Multilateral Development Banks, and private sector partners, especially as hazards become frequent and intense.
Disaster resilience is a chimera without the participation of the private sector, particularly Big Tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. Governments and tech giants should strengthen collaboration and cooperation to enable investment in technology, innovation, and training for disaster resilience in the Caribbean. For instance, Amazon Web Services has a specific disaster response team that supports capabilities by rebuilding connectivity, disaster mapping, and designing software that improves data for decision-making. Within this team, Project Resilience focuses on business continuity by offering ‘resilience credits’ for public, non-profit, and multilateral organizations to use cloud services in hazard response and recovery. When disasters occur, cloud services and earth observation data are essential for institutions to continue operating, remain connected with affected citizens, and access and analyse real-time data.
A G20 shared goal should be working towards fairness between those that contribute the most carbon emissions and those that incur most of the cost, such as Caribbean nations on the frontlines of climate change. As prominent Caribbean diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders stated, cooperation and assistance of richer nations are necessary for small states to navigate “the stormy seas at which they toss” and avoid being capsized. Fairness can be approached either by will or litigation. So far, Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu have initiated a process that tests Paragraph 51 of the Paris Agreement Addendum, which may unlock the possibility of liability for loss and damage under international law.
The Caribbean experience provides a blueprint for the rest of the world of integrated and coordinated investments, policy, and action for disaster resilience. The G20 can draw lessons from the “Resilience Way” of Caribbean States. As the premier forum of global economic cooperation, the G20 is well-positioned to support and give a voice to the greatest victims of climate change through, for example, launching formal G20-SIDS Resilience Dialogues; mobilising financing for existing regional mechanisms and small, vulnerable states; reaffirming its commitment to the International Monetary Fund Resilience and Sustainability Trust; advocating for alternative classification formulas to access favorable financing; and boost public-private partnerships. Above all, the G20 has an opportunity to set the example of collective action—in a progressively divided international system—by addressing the well-being of climate change victims and saving lives.
[i] CARICOM is comprised of 15 Member States and five Associate Members. Member States are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat (UK), Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Associate Members are Anguilla (UK), Bermuda, British Virgin Islands (UK), Cayman Islands (UK), and Turks and Caicos Islands. Non-CARICOM members are: The Netherlands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten), Cuba, Dominican Republic, France (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Barthélemy, Saint Martin), United States (Puerto Rico, United States Virgin Islands).
[ii] There are 19 CDEMA participating States: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Republic of Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Virgin Islands.
This essay is a part of the commentary series on G20-Think20 Task Force 3: LiFE, Resilience, and Values for Wellbeing
