<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>The COVID-19 pandemic and recent international crises including the Russia-Ukraine conflict have resulted in significant disruptions along multiple segments of the Caribbean’s agri-food system, thus compromising regional food security. These impacts are still ongoing with the potential to worsen. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of sociodemographic factors on consumers’ knowledge of food security along with their attitude, and perception towards the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food security in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States.</p></sec><sec><title>Method</title><p>A cross-sectional on-line survey was conducted between January 1 and November 30, 2021. The sampled population included consumers from nine Caribbean countries (Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines). Survey data were analyzed using Chi-square, one way analysis of variance, and univariate logistic regression.</p></sec><sec><title>Results and discussion</title><p>A total of 237 consumers participated in the survey. Consumers were generally knowledgeable about food security and had favorable attitudes and perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on household food security. Significant associations (<italic>p</italic>&lt;0.05) and significant differences (<italic>p</italic>&lt;0.05) were obtained for consumers’ knowledge, attitude and perception among the sociodemographic variables assessed. The results suggest that there were different levels of vulnerability to food insecurity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among economically vulnerable households. Policies that support disadvantaged households and ensure adequate employment opportunities are important to support Caribbean consumers throughout and post the COVID-19 pandemic recovery.</p></sec>

“Climate Blueprint: Dominica”, explores what it really means for a small island in the Caribbean to become climate-resilient whilst still reeling from the impacts of colonialism, slavery, natural resource extraction and environmental degradation. It imagines what a resilient future could look like, and how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) can be a model and resource for the rest of the world on climate ambition and resilient design. The documentary – presented and co-produced by ODI Senior Research Fellow Emily Wilkinson, alongside Director and Producer Sarah Howard – comes after the introduction of the UN Loss and Damage Fund, which has increased attention towards examples of adaptation and resilience from those on the frontlines, such as Dominica.

Introduction The Caribbean region is repeatedly exposed to extreme climate-related events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, which are expected to increase in severity with climate change. This study aims to better understand how extreme climate events affect human mobility, social circumstances, and health-related issues in the Eastern Caribbean, focusing more specifically on Dominica, a Small Island Developing State (SIDS). Methods Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with people who were internally displaced following an extreme climate event in Dominica, and with people who migrated from Dominica to Guadeloupe. Results Mental health was a central issue discussed by participants. Some respondents raised issues regarding loss of livelihoods and poverty that affected their living conditions. For those who decided to migrate to Guadeloupe, the difficulties of getting migrant authorized status were very stressful. Other themes related to displacement trajectory, income, occupation, housing, access to food and water, health and psychosocial services, and the role of local and international assistance and social support and ties – that are well known social determinants of mental health, were raised by participants. Discussion and conclusion Mental health and related determinants should be seen as a public health priority in Caribbean SIDS. Psycho-social interventions that focus on potential sources of vulnerabilities to mental health issues should be integrated in climate preparedness and response efforts. Otherwise, pre-existing social vulnerabilities may be aggravated, limiting the adaptation capacities of Caribbean SIDS to climate change. Public health and the health care system have a role to play in climate change adaptation.

Our resource-use dynamics have contributed significantly to the improvement in global material standards of living through the provisioning of essential societal services. Nonetheless, these dynamics have also impacted on the already limited natural resource-base of the Earth system on which we depend. Moreover, the characteristics of a global self-perpetuating resource-use linearity, the growing demand for finite raw materials, the high waste generation that remains unrecovered, and the increasing negative effects of climate change further exacerbate the Earth system’s vulnerabilities and exposure to risks. As such, the resource-use dynamics is posited as an important example of complex systems in need for better understanding, particularly in advancing towards sustainability and build system’s resilience. For resource-stressed settings like small island nations, the analysis of these complex systems is not only crucial, but urgent. Small Island Developing States are often characterized by sustainability challenges like limited resource-bases, reduced waste absorption capacity, a strong dependency on external resources to meet their basic needs, geographic isolation from markets which impact connectivity and resource supply, and natural and built environment that is progressively been threatened by the negative effects of climate change, which amplify the pre-existing vulnerabilities and risks for these territories. Thus, dealing with sustainability would require a deeper understanding of the interactions and trade-offs between the resource-use dynamics and the influences that internal/external factors like climate change have over these. By doing so, the system will have the ability to both contribute to global environment change, but also determine their own vulnerability or resilience to those changes. This thesis analyzes resource-use dynamics from a socio-metabolic research perspective in the context of small islands to enhance resource security and build system’s resilience, by looking into the way in which natural resources are interconnected, influenced, and managed. The analysis is spread across three main empirical Chapters, each of which contribute to advancing the arguments that arise from this work. First, in Chapter 3, the thesis analyzes the shifting resource-baselines of water, energy, and food, emphasizing the intra- and interconnected nature between essential resources and socio-metabolic risk, which builds the foundations for deeper analysis on current and future sustainability in small islands. Then, in Chapter 4, the thesis analyzes and identifies the size and make-up of material and energy flows specific to an individual case study, bringing important quantitative and qualitative insights on the potentials that reconfigured resource-use patterns may offer to minimizing or reducing socio-metabolic risk in small islands. Next, in Chapter 5, the thesis analyzes the role that critical material stocks play in driving resource-use and in furthering sustainable development, emphasizing climate change adaptation strategies to build system’s resilience. The overall framework of this thesis has demonstrated how a better understanding of resource-use dynamics may offer an opportunity to achieve resource security and self-reliance as a resilience building measure in the island context. Finally, this thesis encourages for the development and application of holistic and long-term resource management strategies through inclusive, climate and nature-based solutions that consider the trade-offs and synergies between different resource-use dynamics.

With the rise of regionalization and globalized approaches to dealing with the associated sources and impacts of marine debris, it is often a challenge to properly capture the unique context and special needs of small island developing states (SIDS) worldwide. In the SIDS context, locals’ perspectives should have a voice in scientific research, as well as in devising potential solutions, at all and different scales. With the view to tailor solutions for the prevention, reduction and mitigation of marine debris, this research explores the professional opinion of local knowledge holders including policy makers from government organizations (GOs) and key policy influencers in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the five English-Speaking Windward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean. To achieve that objective, surveys were conducted with these two groups in Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. On the causes of the debris problem, the survey revealed that the lack of a proper waste management systems on islands, recycling limitations and inappropriate disposal behaviors of the population are generally thought to be the main contributory factors to the accelerating problem of marine debris. Further, phenomena such as Sargassum influxes, sea level rise and extreme weather events exacerbate the problem including most especially tropical storms and hurricanes. On the recommended solutions, over eighty percent of the participants identified monitoring and policing services as a main constraint that prohibits sound coastal and marine litter handling. Ninety-five percent identified establishing feasible recycling systems and sixty-seven percent identified changing social behaviors (including a combination of product and consumer literacy, disposal habits, compliance with laws and regulations) as national priorities for enabling on-the-ground actions for better coastal and marine litter prevention and reduction going forward. These findings reinforce recently published work which indicates the need for effective solid waste management systems in the Eastern Caribbean for cleaner and healthier oceans. An additional recommendation was proposed to address a major source of the marine litter problem- upstream producers. Furthermore, given the natural events component, this research proposes incorporating the Sendai Framework for disaster risk reduction in future proposed mitigation measures with a view to building the resilience of SIDS and local communities in combating the impacts of marine debris.

The multi-hazard vulnerability of Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean has underpinned the repeated saga of destructive natural and anthropogenic events that have disrupted land, livelihoods, the economy, and society over the past several decades. Preparedness and response have been the focus of national governments and regional entities and the repeated battering calls into question the concept of recovery and ‘building back better’. This paper examines the concept of recovery and ‘building back better’ in the context of the Caribbean, paying particular attention to the experience of the selected countries of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. These nations have recently been impacted by different disasters, ranging from storms to earthquakes to volcanic eruptions. This paper also explores the similarities among the recommendations concerning recovery needs, presenting key insights into suggested approaches for an inclusive people-centred recovery process that ‘builds back better’.

Small island economies are highly dependent on food imports. Self-sufficiency through food localization is therefore often advocated. Can a small Caribbean island nation localize its food system? To answer this question, we conducted socio-metabolic research on four Caribbean nations: Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, and Jamaica. Derived indicators from a diachronic biomass flow accounting from 1961 to 2019 suggest a declining trend in local food production for all cases. While in Barbados and Jamaica this decline already began in the 1960s, for Dominica and Grenada, this did not start until the late 1970s–1980s. The physical trade balance of biomass is similar across all cases: from net exporters at the start of the study period to net importers as countries developed, albeit at different time periods. By disaggregating biomass flow data to crop level, Barbados and Jamaica indicate a trend that is moving away from food localization, while Dominica and Grenada appear to be modestly moving toward localization in recent years. Given the many resource security challenges small island economies face, this study provides a biophysical perspective to the Caribbean's food security debate and questions the extent to which food localization is possible in a small island context, and whether other strategies are urgently needed.

This dataset showcases physical trade and domestic extraction within Dominica between 1961 to 2019. This dataset summarizes biomass flows, including domestic extraction (crops, residues, grazing, and fisheries), consumption within the region, and trade balances for crops, livestock, feed, and fish. It provides an overview of local use and trade.

This dataset showcases physical trade and domestic extraction within Dominica between 1961 to 2019. This dataset summarizes biomass flows, including domestic extraction (crops, residues, grazing, and fisheries), consumption within the region, and trade balances for crops, livestock, feed, and fish. It provides an overview of local use and trade.

Climate change is increasing the severity of extreme weather events, particularly hurricanes, presenting a significant challenge to Caribbean coastal communities. In the aftermath of a major disaster, government interventions typically prioritise infrastructure, assets, and the economy through rebuilding roads, reviving economic sectors, and providing financial compensation. This is driven by a focus on macro-level quantitative indicators rather than by local, multidimensional subjective and relational factors, closer to lived experiences and livelihoods. Using frameworks outlining social well-being and agency, this paper explores strategies used by a fisheries-dependent community in Dominica to recover from Hurricane Maria in 2017 and pursue well-being. The findings highlight the importance of multidimensional well-being, particularly relational and subjective dimensions, including existing social networks, and personal relationships critical for recovery after Maria. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates how recovery initiatives that concentrate solely on material well-being, such as employment, can undermine agency in the capacity of a community to recover and build resilience.

Child-centred disaster risk reduction aims to reduce child vulnerability and increase resilience to disasters. The 2015 Comprehensive School Safety Framework (CSSF) sought to decrease hazard risks to education. Between 2015 and 2017, Dominica was struck by Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria, which significantly affected the education system at the local and national scales. Since Maria, a couple of national initiatives (Safer Schools and Smart Schools) have been introduced to increase resilience and meet the CSSF's objectives. This paper assesses progress made through a qualitative analysis of interviews with 29 school leaders, government officials, and disaster risk reduction stakeholders. Implementation of the climate resilience programme in 2018 resulted in nationwide teacher training and production of school disaster plans. Limited successes have improved social resilience, but short-term implementation due to COVID-19 and a lack of a teacher knowledge base have presented challenges to the scheme's long-term sustainability and the implementation of the CSSF's goals.

Noting the frequency of tropical storm hazards and related disasters within the Caribbean, this paper initially highlights the relatively short average period of ‘storm awareness timing’ in the region, less than 24 hours, with variations in time and space. Next, it evaluates the results of a survey on communicating disaster risk by a range of participants at the 2016 Wet/Hurricane Season Caribbean Community Climate Outlook Forum in Dominica. Respondents commented that there may be a ‘weekend effect’ possibly hindering quick action and suggested that improved institutional support was needed to use climate information better. Analysis of these two datasets in tandem offers a unique understanding of whether the timing of events may contribute to limitations on responses by local authorities. Lastly, the paper ends with insights into how this research can assist regional authorities in enhancing and utilising climate information for disaster risk reduction, as well as by indicating where critical issues remain.

Replacing traditional fossil fuel with bioethanol has been adopted in many countries to reduce carbon emissions and achieve climate mitigation targets. However, the soaring global demand for food and bioethanol in the future may impose heavy environmental pressure on major sugar crops producing regions of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) through significant changes in land and water uses. Irrigation expansion in the rainfed dominant cropping areas would partially slow down the land use expansion by boosting yields, but require large-scale investments. This study assesses the future land and water demand triggered by sugar crops expansion from the food-energy-water/land nexus perspective through coupling the Global Agro-Ecological Zones model (GAEZ) with Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) analysis. We further analyse the tradeoffs between water and land use under future scenarios of climate change and socio-economic development regarding to the expected goals of biofuel policies and irrigation expansion strategies in LAC countries due to sufficient local water resources. The results show that the projected water and land demand of sugar crops in LAC would increase by 198% and 205% from 2014 to 2040. Increasing the low- or non- irrigated area up to 50% would mitigate the yield loss and reduce the land demand by 10%, with limited impact on the local water resources in most LAC countries. Major bioethanol producers with limited water demand compared with available water resources, such as Brazil and Argentina, could further promote irrigation to avoid significant landuse change and benefit other countries’ land ecosystems via inter-regional bioethanol trade. While in potential higher water stress countries, including Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, under bioenergy orientated policy in 2040, reducing biofuel policy targets or importing bioethanol from resource rich countries would be a better option. These results could provide guidelines to balance sugar crops production and sustainable water and land use strategies across LAC.

A discussion of Dominica's plan to recover from Hurricane Maria – an important pilot case for developing resilience in the age of climate change.

Sustainability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is a growing concern particularly under climate change scenarios. Under the Ecosystem Service (ES) framework, we analyse the performance of five Caribbean countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago) regarding environmental and socioeconomic indicators, specifying how far each country is from an ideal threshold (Boundary Point – BP). Furthermore, the analysis provides an estimation of the potential of each country to deliver ecosystem services. Building on an existing ecosystem service’s value database, we developed the Ecosystem Services Potential Index (ESPI) to compare possibilities in each country. Linking the ESPI of each country to its distance to the BP (Boundary Point Distance – BPD), helps us detecting shortcomings and providing recommendations on what could be improved to move towards achieving self-sufficiency with high quality of life at the lowest environmental cost. However, none of the countries analyzed fall within the ideal situation where human needs are met without overexploitation of ecosystems. Nonetheless, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Jamaica are the countries closest to achieve that goal. We conclude our findings with some recommendations to adopt Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) as a leverage point towards self-sufficiency in the Caribbean.

A climate change and health vulnerability and adaptation assessment was conducted in Dominica, a Caribbean small island developing state located in the Lesser Antilles. The assessment revealed that the country&rsquo;s population is already experiencing many impacts on health and health systems from climate variability and change. Infectious diseases as well as food and waterborne diseases pose continued threats as climate change may exacerbate the related health risks. Threats to food security were also identified, with particular concern for food production systems. The findings of the assessment included near-term and long-term adaptation options that can inform actions of health sector decision-makers in addressing health vulnerabilities and building resilience to climate change. Key challenges include the need for enhanced financial and human resources to build awareness of key health risks and increase adaptive capacity. Other small island developing states interested in pursuing a vulnerability and adaptation assessment may find this assessment approach, key findings, analysis, and lessons learned useful.

This study examines the social and environmental performance of five Caribbean nations (Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba) using the Safe and Just Space (SJS) framework proposed by Kate Raworth (2012). For each country, values for 11 social and 7 environmental indicators are calculated. This is the first study that uses the Safe and Just Space framework for the Caribbean region, and with a focus on small island states. Johan Rockström and colleagues first proposed the Planetary Boundaries (PB) framework in 2009, where they identify the urgency to remain within nine biophysical planetary boundaries if humanity must continue to thrive. The authors claim that by crossing these boundaries we would significantly risk our own survival and cause large-scale, abrupt or irreversible environmental changes. In 2012, Kate Raworth added the social dimension to the Planetary Boundaries framework, which she defines as the Safe and Just Space (SJS). She argues that humanity must not only remain within biophysical thresholds, but as part of the sustainability mandate, also aspire to achieve quality of life where no one is left behind. In other words, how can humanity achieve an acceptable quality of life at the lowest environmental costs, or in Raworth’ s words, “can we live within the Doughnut?” Drawing on the SJS framework, this study calculates 11 social and 7 environmental indicators for the 5 Caribbean nations to assess their sustainability performance. To this end, the method proposed by O’Neill et al. (2018) is taken as a starting point. The 11 social indicators include Life Satisfaction, Social Support, Nutrition, Assess to Electricity (Energy), Access to Improved Sanitation, Health and Life Expectancy, Income, Equality, Democratic Quality, Education and Employment. The 7 environmental indicators are: Climate Change (represented by CO₂ emission), Phosphorous Flows, Nitrogen Flows, Blue Water, eHANPP (embodied Human Appropriated Net Primary Production), Ecological Footprint and Material Footprint. The results suggest that none of these five nations is in an ideal position within the doughnut of the environmentally safe and socially just space. Four of the nations (Trinidad Tobago, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba) exceed at least four out of seven planetary boundaries and none of them achieve more than half of the social outcomes. Haiti exceeds the boundary for CO₂ emission and functions slightly under the eHANPP boundary (that measures the intensity of use of biomass), but achieves none of the 11 social outcomes. While the relationship between the environmental and social variables is multi-metric, a few patterns and correlation between environment and social indicators can be observed. In general, the achievement of most social outcomes such as access to electricity, sanitation, income, nutrition, employment, education, social support and life satisfaction are positively related to emission or material consumption, such as CO₂ emission, especially from emission from fossil fuels, phosphorous flow, eHANPP, ecological footprint and material footprint. Based on performances of these five nations, the achievement of social outcomes is not closely related to blue water as one of the environmental performance indicator. There does not exist clear positive relationship between environmental indicators and social indicators such as healthy life expectancy, equality and democratic quality.

This document presents Dominica’s Energy Report Card (ERC) for 2017, which was prepared using data and information submitted by the Member State as well as supplemental data extracted from online resources (see list of References). The ERC provides an overview of energy sector performance in Dominica by focusing on two priority sub-sectors: Electricity and Transportation. The ERC also includes energy efficiency, climate change, energy sector workforce, training and capacity building information, subject to the availability of data

Spatial planning is considered to be an important instrument in disaster risk management, by which human exposure and vulnerability could be reduced and thereby disaster losses. And in order to make informed planning decisions, adequate and reliable hazard and risk information is indispensable. Therefore, in the first part of this study, the use of hazard and risk information in the physical planning process of 5 Caribbean countries (Grenada, Saint Vincent, St. Lucia, Dominica, and Belize) was examined through literature review and direct interviews with senior staff of each physical planning unit. Furthermore, fragility and resilience indices were produced for Grenada to analyze its vulnerability to natural hazards. These indices were constructed by adopting an indicator based approach making use of publicly available census data from 2011 that was aggregated at the enumeration district level. The main selected indicators are age, gender, insurance, education, housing, livelihood, health etc. The Spatial Multi Criteria Evaluation module of ILWIS was used to combine different factor maps and produce indices. Since, purely census data was used for measuring vulnerability these indices provide in a way household level fragility and resilience in the country. To check the sensitivity of the model and indices, both percent and absolute values of indicators were tested. A concept of a flood hazard matrix is introduced for Grenada that is based on probability of flood occurrence and its intensity (height). Flood hazard maps produced by ITC using OpenLISEM are classified taking this hazard matrix and the resultant maps could now be utilized for physical planning decisions. Unfortunately the census data is not geo-located, which makes it difficult to use in an exposure analysis. Therefore, a test was made to geo-locate census data in selected sites. Additionally, a country-wide population distribution map at building level was produced for the main Island following a dasymetric mapping concept by utilizing census data and available building footprints, which were visually classified according to their occupancy types. Using GIS spatial overlay techniques exposure analysis was carried to identify number of buildings and estimated population that is exposed to flooding and landslides.

This dataset outlines vehicle and tire data types in Dominica during 2003 until 2007. It categorizes the vehicles based on class, including Passenger Cars, Buses/Lorries, Heavy Vehicles, and Two Wheelers. The dataset provides the number of tire imports, registered vehicles, tire replacement rates, and the proportion of vehicle class for each.