Policy Brief: Planning for resilience: an integrated approach to tackle climate change in the Caribbean

The Caribbean subregion is exceptionally vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events. Vulnerability is a key multidimensional concept at the heart of resilience building, relating to each country’s multiple spatial and socioeconomic risks and conditions. In fact, due to its geographical location and concentration of population and activities in low-lying coastal areas, the Caribbean is the second most hazard-prone region in the world...Moreover, impacts of extreme weather events on Caribbean small economies are of national proportions. For example, in the hurricane s…

The Hummingbird Vol.7 No.7

Advancing the Decade of Action for Sustainable Development in the Caribbean

The Hummingbird Vol.7 No.6

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The Hummingbird Vol.7 No.2

Promoting debt sustainability to facilitate financing sustainable development in selected Caribbean countries: A scenario analysis of the ECLAC debt for climate adaptation swap initiative

In light of the high debt burden impacting Caribbean economies ECLAC has been pursuing an initiative designed to reduce the debt burden and advance sustainable development. The strategy has evolved over time and there is now agreement on an approach designed to bring financial resources to the Caribbean for resilience building while still emphasizing the importance of debt reduction. To address resilience and development financing, ECLAC proposes the establishment of a Caribbean Resilience Facility to be housed at a reputable financial institution. Such a facility would be capitalised by donor…

Proposal for a revitalized Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee - Regional Coordinating Mechanism for Sustainable Development (CDCC-RCM): Repositioning CDCC-RCM as the mechanism for sustainable development in Caribbean small island developin...

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) agenda for sustainable development has as its foundation the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA 1994), the Mauritius Strategy for Further Implementation of the BPoA (MSI 2005) and more recently the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA Pathway 2014). These agreements representing 25 years of continual focus are the SIDS sustainable development blue prints. With the objectives of positioning and maintaining a strategic SIDS focus across sustainable development agendas, this paper re-examines the Regional Coordinating Mechanism of the Caribbean De…

The enhancement of resilience to disasters and climate change in the Caribbean through the modernization of the energy sector

The Caribbean region is prone to disasters due to its geographic location. The exposures and resulting impacts of these disasters are aggravated by persistent social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities. Compounded with the region’s current dependence on imported fossil fuels and financial constraints, this study seeks to stimulate discussions around the complementarity of energy with every societal sector as well as its links with disaster risk management, and promote government-wide management that integrates energy policies, disaster management and climate change impacts.…

Synthesis of the Caribbean subregion midterm review report of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Action Pathway (hereafter referred to as the SAMOA Pathway) was adopted in 2014 at the United Nations Third International Conference on SIDS. The SAMOA Pathway builds on the 1994 Barbados Programme of Action for SIDS (BPOA) and the 2005 Mauritius Strategy of Implementation (MSI) for the Further Implementation of the BPOA. This document is a synthesis on the Caribbean Region- SAMOA Pathway Midterm Review Report prepared by ECLAC and in support of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 72/217.…

The Hummingbird Vol.7 No.1

Policy Brief: Incorporating the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics in Caribbean national statistical legislation

The United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UNFPOS) are considered the basic framework that National Statistical Systems (NSS) must observe in order to produce high quality, independent statistics that support informed decision-making and public confidence in government. The UNFPOS were first adopted in 1994 by the United Nations Statistical Commission. These principles were subsequently endorsed by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2013 and the United Nations General Assembly in 2014. Statistical laws in the Caribbean have lagged in incorporating…

The Hummingbird Vol.6 No.12

Caribbean Technology Partnerships for the SDGs

The Hummingbird Vol.6 No.11

Policy Brief: Moving towards equal access to technology for persons with disabilities in the Caribbean

In the Caribbean, there are approximately 1.3 million persons with a disability of some kind and some 250,000 persons with a significant disability. These numbers are projected to increase dramatically in the coming decades as the population of the subregion ages and given the global increase in chronic health conditions. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) face a range of physical, social, attitudinal and institutional barriers that prevent their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. As a result, they experience less favorable outcomes in health, education, …

Strategies for increasing economic resilience in the Caribbean

The Hummingbird Vol.6 No.8