Carib Scope

分类： environment

  • We Are Mayreau reports steady ridge-to-reef progress

    We Are Mayreau reports steady ridge-to-reef progress

    Half a year into a landmark regional ecosystem restoration initiative, We Are Mayreau Inc. (WAM) has delivered tangible progress in building climate resilience across the Southern Grenadines, marking a critical milestone for small island developing states (SIDS) on the frontlines of climate change. The Targeted Ridge-to-Reef Ecosystem-based Adaptation Interventions (TREBAI) project, which connects conservation from mountain ridgelines down to coastal reef systems, has filled pressing gaps left by devastating extreme weather while unlocking unexpected ecological discoveries for the region.

    For low-lying island nations like Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the urgency of integrated ridge-to-reef conservation cannot be overstated. Pollution and sediment runoff from inland agricultural areas travels to coastal reefs in mere days, leaving interconnected ecosystems extremely vulnerable to cascading damage. When Hurricane Beryl swept through the region in 2024, it destroyed nearly all existing coral nursery infrastructure and local farming operations, wiping out the limited natural and manmade buffers that help communities absorb future climate shocks. Since TREBAI launched in March 2025, WAM has moved quickly to reverse this damage and build more resilient systems for the long term.

    One of the project’s most groundbreaking achievements is the establishment of the first transboundary coral genetic bank nursery in the Windward Islands. WAM’s new Mayreau-based facility currently holds three coral cultivation structures hosting 60 fragments of two critically endangered coral species — Staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and Elkhorn (Acropora palmata) — transferred directly from partner sites in St. Lucia. This marks the first assisted gene flow (AGF) effort between Windward Island nations, and WAM, alongside SVG’s Richmond Vale Academy (RVA), is the first regional beneficiary of this shared cross-border genetic banking initiative. The nursery, located within the protected Tobago Cays Marine Park, is inspected and maintained weekly by a growing team of local coral gardeners, which has expanded from 5 to 11 members. For the first time in the project’s history, the team includes a female junior coral gardener, drawn from a pool of 18 applicants across Union Island, Mayreau and surrounding communities.

    On land, the initiative is equally focused on transforming agricultural practices to align with climate resilience. WAM has hired two full-time climate-smart agriculture coordinators to serve Union Island and Mayreau, and 25 local farmers have already enrolled in the organization’s capacity-building program. The project has also begun engaging three local primary schools to deliver an interdisciplinary, regionally tailored climate-smart farming curriculum, introducing sustainable stewardship practices to young community members early. To further expand workforce opportunities, WAM has partnered with SVG’s Ministry of Agriculture to develop formal work attachment programs for participants from the Southern Grenadines, with a core focus on creating stable, long-term livelihoods for local community members involved in both marine and land conservation work. For WAM, securing livelihoods and building community trust are treated as non-negotiable foundations for all successful conservation outcomes.

    In a surprise breakthrough that has drawn widespread regional attention, a reconnaissance dive in August — conducted in partnership with Dive Bequia off the coast of Battowia in the Northern Grenadines — uncovered more than 15 previously unrecorded wild colonies of Staghorn coral, a species long considered functionally extinct in SVG waters. This discovery marks a major win for marine conservation in the region, offering new genetic resources for future restoration efforts.

    Much of WAM’s work over the past six months has centered on expanding Reef Life Inc., a flagship blue social enterprise launched by WAM in 2022 that operates on a core principle: oceans, land, people and policy are interconnected parts of a single circular living system. Through community partnerships, immersive conservation experiences, hands-on restoration work, and public education, Reef Life centers traditional local knowledge while addressing the disproportionate climate injustice that already threatens livelihoods across the Grenadines. As the enterprise rebuilds following Hurricane Beryl, it is working to share its community-centered model and lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable livelihoods for residents of the region’s marine protected areas.

    TREBAI is led by CLEAR Caribbean, a UK-registered organization with regional operations based in St. Lucia, with on-the-ground implementation delivered by RVA and WAM across SVG. The project receives funding from the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, with support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety through the International Climate Initiative and KfW. CLEAR’s three-year sub-grant to WAM totals up to US$518,700, running through April 2029. WAM has also forged new partnerships with private sector stakeholders and continues to collaborate with multiple government ministries to expand skills training and professional development opportunities for its growing team.

    Six months into implementation, WAM Executive Director Marion Isaacs emphasized that the project’s greatest potential lies in its holistic, community-first approach. “We’re thinking holistically about what our islands and oceans need, and about the unique challenge and opportunity of being a small island state,” Isaacs said. “We embrace this smallness and can already feel massive potential building in what we’ve managed to bring to life so far. We focus on relationship-building, especially as we come from complex histories. For us, relationships are the new infrastructure: they strengthen our work, keep us committed, and hold us accountable in everything we organize, plan, and grow.”

    With a new marine conservationist joining the team as Reef Life’s Project Coordinator in September, WAM announced it expects implementation to accelerate over the coming six months. Upcoming milestones include completing open-water diving certification for all coral gardeners, expanding coral outplanting operations, finishing onboarding for all participating farmers, and launching the first round of community engagement meetings scheduled for September 2025.

  • Opvallend stil Atlantisch orkaanseizoen contrasteert met krachtige stormen in de Pacific

    Opvallend stil Atlantisch orkaanseizoen contrasteert met krachtige stormen in de Pacific

    The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season is making meteorological history for all the wrong reasons: as of late September, not a single hurricane has formed in the basin, marking the latest start to Atlantic hurricane activity on record. This unusual lull comes during what is typically the most active window of the year for Atlantic tropical cyclone development, leaving climate scientists stunned and fascinated by the stark divergence between the Atlantic and Pacific basins this year.

    On average, researchers from Florida State University note, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season forms between early and mid-August. While the 2026 season has spawned several weaker tropical storms, none have intensified to reach hurricane strength. Experts point to large-scale atmospheric conditions and the ongoing El Niño pattern as key factors suppressing storm formation, as these dynamics create an environment that makes it far harder for tropical systems to organize and strengthen in the Atlantic.

    This unprecedented quiet in the Atlantic does not mean the world’s tropics are free of dangerous storm activity, however. The Pacific basin, by contrast, is currently experiencing a hyper-active season with multiple powerful tropical systems churning across its waters, putting coastal communities across North America at risk.

    Off Mexico’s western coast, Hurricane Polo is currently tracking west-northwest after temporarily reaching powerful Category 5 intensity. The U.S. National Hurricane Center’s latest update downgraded the storm to a strong Category 4 hurricane, though it still poses major threats to coastal regions. While the storm’s strongest winds remain mostly over open ocean, its outer rain bands have already reached sections of Mexico’s Michoacán coast, where local residents have stacked sandbags to buffer against large, destructive waves. Authorities warn the region remains at high risk of severe rainfall, flash flooding, and deadly landslides as the storm slowly passes.

    Further west across the Pacific, Tropical Storm Nolo is advancing toward Hawaii and steadily gaining strength. The National Hurricane Center projects Nolo will intensify into a full hurricane as it approaches the islands, and a tropical storm warning is already in effect for Hawaii County. Forecasters warn heavy downpours could trigger dangerous flooding across the region, prompting local officials to finalize emergency preparedness measures ahead of the storm’s arrival.

    A third named storm, Hurricane Odalys, is also spinning as a fully formed hurricane in the Pacific, located hundreds of miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, posing no immediate threat to populated coastal areas for now.

    This sharp, unusual contrast between the two major ocean basins has made the 2026 hurricane season a particularly valuable case study for atmospheric scientists. While the Atlantic sits unusually quiet at the peak of its storm season, the Pacific has produced multiple powerful tropical cyclones in recent months. Researchers are now analyzing this extreme divergence to refine their understanding of how large-scale climate patterns shape the conditions that give rise to tropical cyclones, and why hurricane activity can vary so dramatically from one year to the next.

    For communities in the path of active Pacific storms, the priority remains maintaining constant alertness. Mexican authorities are continuously monitoring rainfall levels and landslide risks across vulnerable coastal regions, while Hawaiian emergency teams have completed pre-storm preparations ahead of Nolo’s expected arrival.

    The Atlantic hurricane season does not officially end until November 30, leaving a window for late-season storm development that could still break this unprecedented dry spell. Even if a hurricane does form before the season closes, the record-long stretch without Atlantic hurricane activity has already secured the 2026 season a unique place in meteorological history. Scientists say this anomalous event offers a rare, invaluable opportunity to deepen knowledge of how atmospheric and oceanic conditions regulate the formation and growth of tropical storms, which could improve long-term forecasting of hurricane activity in coming years.

  • $220m water treatment project to begin in October

    $220m water treatment project to begin in October

    Barbados is set to break ground next month on a landmark $220 million wastewater reclamation initiative designed to expand irrigation access for local farmers while advancing national environmental protection goals, the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) announced Wednesday. Project leaders detailed the full scope and timeline of the South Coast Water Reclamation Project during a public consultation town hall hosted at Hawthorne Methodist Church in Worthing, outlining how the innovative scheme integrates advanced tertiary wastewater treatment, renewable energy infrastructure, and ecosystem conservation to repurpose treated wastewater for agricultural irrigation.

    Major construction works are scheduled to run for 30 months, with completion targeted for May 2029. The primary contractor will remain on site to oversee the initial operational phase through May 2032, a arrangement designed to support hands-on technology transfer and comprehensive training for local BWA staff.

    The project’s multi-source international financing package brings together contributions from leading global climate and development institutions: an $80 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a $60 million loan and $80 million grant from the Green Climate Fund, with additional backing via a debt conversion agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) that is supported by a $300 million guarantee.

    Shelley Parris, project manager with the BWA’s Project Execution Unit, explained that the core mission of the initiative is twofold: strengthen the resilience and reliability of Barbados’ water supply by expanding access to reclaimed water, while building capacity across national water management institutions. “The Government of Barbados is the ultimate project owner and sovereign counterpart governing the entire initiative, while the BWA has been appointed as the official executing agency,” Parris noted. She added that even with the project’s expected gains, which will boost per capita water availability from 98 cubic meters to 238 cubic meters by 2050, the island will still fall within global parameters for water scarcity, meaning long-term strategic resource management will remain a critical priority for the nation.

    The initiative is structured around four interconnected core components all aimed at upgrading Barbados’ national water management framework. First, infrastructure upgrades include the construction of a new South Coast Water Reclamation and Reuse Facility adjacent to the existing Harmony Hall treatment plant, which will upgrade current treatment capabilities from basic primary processing to advanced secondary and tertiary levels. Second, a 25-kilometer distribution pipeline will carry reclaimed water from the main Graeme Hall facility through Christ Church and portions of St George, all the way to River Plantation in St Philip. Third, a 7-megawatt solar photovoltaic system paired with battery storage will power the facility, offsetting its full energy demand with renewable energy. Fourth, institutional development will focus on capacity building, enhanced water quality monitoring, and specialized training for staff across the ministries of health, agriculture, and environment.

    Once operational, the pipeline network will supply consistent irrigation water to between 160 and 1,320 hectares of farmland, directly benefiting 210 small-scale farmers in communities including River Plantation, Silver Hill, and Gibbons Bog, plus an additional 260 producers located along the pipeline route. During the wet season, the system will also support managed aquifer recharge through purpose-built injection wells, helping to preserve the island’s precious reserves of clean drinking water.

    The treatment complex sits adjacent to Graeme Hall Swamp, a globally recognized Ramsar-listed wetland site. Upgrading to full tertiary treatment will cut down on harmful chemical runoff from urban and agricultural areas, protect coastal and marine ecosystems, and eliminate persistent local odour issues that have long impacted residents living near the existing facility.

    China Railway Shanghai Engineering has been awarded the contract for engineering, procurement, and construction, with global firm AECOM serving as local contract administrator and SAEDI Consulting Barbados overseeing environmental compliance for the scheme.

    Ian Constantine, project coordinator for the South Coast Water Reclamation Project, confirmed that preliminary site preparation works have already gotten underway near Harmony Hall. “The contractor has already commenced mobilisation on site. Currently, some of the temporary access roads have already been constructed,” Constantine shared during his technical presentation at the town hall. “Over 20 containers have already been delivered on site, alongside cranes and heavy construction vehicles. The master schedule for this project has been approved, and full construction is going to begin within October.” The first major structural work will focus on pouring the foundation for the plant’s main bioreactor tank, a process expected to take six to eight weeks, Constantine added.

    The project follows a design-build model, meaning all technical specifications must receive formal approval from the Barbadian government before any equipment is installed. To support local economic participation, the main contractor has contracted Barbadian small businesses for surveying, geotechnical engineering, heavy equipment rental, and site preparation works. Addressing early community concerns about construction impacts, project managers confirmed that initial dust complaints have already been resolved through the implementation of regular site watering and ground covering measures.

    Wednesday’s town hall formed a required part of the statutory public consultation process for the project’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP). To ensure long-term operational reliability and sustainability, the finished facility will host an on-site water quality testing laboratory, and multiple independent regulatory agencies will conduct regular monitoring of both incoming influent and outgoing effluent water quality throughout the facility’s operational lifespan. Community outreach, dedicated liaison programs, and regular public progress briefings will continue throughout the 30-month construction period as works progress along the south coast corridor.

  • Who Owns the Riverbank? Older Land Titles Raise Questions

    Who Owns the Riverbank? Older Land Titles Raise Questions

    A contentious three-acre clearing project along the banks of Belize River has thrown a spotlight on longstanding ambiguities in the country’s land regulation framework, particularly for waterfront development. The site, which was cleared all the way to the river’s edge, prompted a multi-agency joint investigation involving Belize’s Department of the Environment, Forest Department, and Lands Department, with inspectors confirming only a small number of mangroves sustained damage during the work.

    Anthony Mai, the nation’s Chief Environmental Officer, broke down the split regulatory responsibilities that have complicated oversight of this project and similar developments across the country. Under existing Belizean law, the Forest Department holds exclusive authority to oversee any clearing or modification of mangrove habitats, which are critical to coastal and riverine ecosystems. The Lands Department, by contrast, is tasked with managing the 66-foot river reserve—an established buffer zone set aside under the country’s Lands Act. This strip of land, officially designated as Crown land, was originally created to guarantee unimpeded public access to the nation’s waterways, and in recent decades it has also gained recognition for its key ecological roles, including reducing riverbank erosion, filtering runoff, and supporting aquatic biodiversity.

    To add another layer of environmental protection, official Environmental Compliance Plans for most waterfront developments require developers to preserve an intact 66-foot vegetated buffer along all water bodies, a rule designed to uphold the ecological functions the reserve is meant to protect. However, this particular plot of land complicates enforcement: officials from the Department of the Environment confirmed the land title for the three-acre parcel dates back to the 1960s, decades before the 66-foot reserve requirement was formally written into national law.

    Mai noted that this is not an isolated case. Across Belize, a small but significant number of pre-regulation land titles grant property ownership all the way to the water’s edge, creating a legal gray area that clashes with modern environmental and public access rules. The ongoing investigation into the Belize River clearing has renewed calls for policymakers to address these conflicting land rights, balancing the legal claims of longstanding title holders with the growing need to protect riverine ecosystems and maintain public access to Belize’s vital water resources. The clearing, which already extends to the waterline, has also stoked public concern over increased risks of river erosion and ecological degradation in the area, putting further pressure on regulators to clarify outdated land policies.

  • Burton says Dominica’s Geothermal Plant is now in commercial operation

    Burton says Dominica’s Geothermal Plant is now in commercial operation

    Addressing the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Dominican President Her Excellency Sylvanie Burton has announced a landmark milestone for the Caribbean island nation’s clean energy transition: its long-planned geothermal power facility has officially entered commercial operation.

    The launch of the geothermal plant represents a transformative shift for Dominica’s energy sector, Burton explained. Prior to the project coming online, the country relied heavily on costly imported fossil fuels to meet a large share of its electricity demand. With the geothermal facility now fully operational, renewables account for roughly 84 percent of the country’s total electricity generation, putting Dominica firmly on track to meet its self-declared goal of achieving 100 percent renewable energy for all electricity production by 2030.

    Burton emphasized that the benefits of the geothermal project extend far beyond cutting carbon emissions. By reducing the country’s dependence on imported crude oil and refined petroleum products, Dominica is shielding its economy from volatile global energy price swings that have strained government budgets and household finances in many small developing nations in recent years. Beyond energy security, the project is already catalyzing new economic opportunities: creating local jobs, attracting green investment, and laying the groundwork for the emergence of new climate-focused industries across the island.

    “Our ambition is not merely to generate clean electricity. Our ambition is to use clean energy to transform our economy,” Burton told the assembled global leaders in her address.

    The Dominican president used her platform at the UN to issue a call to action for the international community, urging wealthier nations and multilateral development bodies to expand accessible financing and equitable partnership opportunities for climate-vulnerable small island developing states. Many of these nations face disproportionate climate risk despite contributing very little to global greenhouse gas emissions, and often lack the upfront capital needed to scale high-impact renewable energy projects.

    Burton pushed back against the narrative that small states cannot lead global climate action, noting that when provided with the necessary investment support, small nations can deliver ambitious, industry-leading progress on the clean energy transition while turning climate action into inclusive, sustainable economic growth.

    All emissions reduction targets and progress figures included in this report are drawn directly from Burton’s official address to the United Nations General Assembly.

  • OP-ED: The FAO faces a new agricultural revolution

    OP-ED: The FAO faces a new agricultural revolution

    Humanity currently stands at a defining paradox in global food production. While our accumulated scientific and technological knowledge gives us unprecedented capacity to grow food, the urgent need to reshape our agricultural systems is clearer than ever before.

    The 20th century’s Green Revolution stands as one of modern history’s greatest public welfare achievements. By dramatically boosting global crop yields, the movement delivered on what was once thought impossible: it fed billions of people across the globe and prevented the mass famines that experts widely predicted would accompany mid-century population growth. Yet this historic success came with steep, long-term environmental costs. The push for intensive agricultural production accelerated soil degradation, drove unsustainable increases in water consumption and chemical input use, and created widespread harm to natural ecosystems across the world.

    The core challenge for 21st-century agriculture is fundamentally different from that of the past. Today, our goal must be producing more food with far fewer resources: more nourishment for a growing global population on less land, higher productivity through more efficient water management, and shared prosperity for farming communities, alongside increased carbon sequestration in soils, expanded biodiversity, and more resilient, healthy ecosystems.

    This urgent transformation must be the central priority for the next phase of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s work. Among all regions, Latin America and the Caribbean have an outsize role to play in this global effort. The region is already a foundational pillar of global food security, and it has emerged as a massive living laboratory for cutting-edge agricultural innovation.

    Countries across the region, including agricultural powerhouses Argentina and Brazil, have already built advanced production systems that integrate modern science, technology, precision farming practices, no-till agriculture, genetic crop improvement, and regenerative natural resource management strategies.

    The Brazilian Cerrado biome offers one of the most compelling examples of what this transformation can achieve. Decades of targeted scientific research and iterative innovation turned a region once widely written off as having little to no agricultural potential into one of the world’s most productive and critical food-producing hubs.

    The key takeaway from this success is not that the Cerrado model should be copied and pasted into other regions without adaptation. Instead, the core lesson is that intentional investment in science can turn long-held assumptions about natural constraints into new opportunities for inclusive development.

    Today, the African continent needs its own context-specific agricultural revolution. There is no one-size-fits-all solution that works for every region, but there is one universal guiding principle: all agricultural policy and practice must be rooted in scientific evidence.

    Throughout my decades-long scientific career, I have worked to demonstrate that soil health is inextricably connected to the health of plants, livestock, human communities, entire ecosystems, and the future of the planet itself. Long-term, global food security is impossible to achieve when we continue to rely on degraded, overexploited soils.

    It is for this reason that I see the “Living Soils of the Americas” initiative as such a critical model for global action. Developed in partnership with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) during the tenure of Argentine leader Manuel Otero, the initiative brings together a diverse coalition of stakeholders: scientific researchers, national governments, working farmers, private sector businesses, and civil society organizations, all united around a shared core idea: expanding agricultural production and protecting the natural environment are not opposing goals.

    Healthy, managed soils can simultaneously deliver multiple public and private benefits: they store atmospheric carbon, preserve freshwater reserves, support greater biodiversity, boost agricultural resilience to climate shocks, and maintain consistent, high levels of crop productivity.

    The successful framework developed across the Americas has already begun to spread to the African continent. Decades of innovation in regions like Brazil’s Cerrado offer invaluable actionable insights for sustainable agricultural development across Africa’s savanna biomes. This cross-regional exchange embodies the standard that modern international cooperation should live up to: it focuses on sharing evidence-based knowledge and co-creating locally adapted solutions, rather than imposing pre-built, one-size-fits-all models on developing regions.

    The FAO already holds a unique and powerful combination of assets: unmatched technical expertise, a widespread global footprint, and a proven ability to convene stakeholders from across sectors and borders. But international institutions only fulfill their core mandate when this institutional capital is translated into tangible, on-the-ground benefits for member nations and the communities they serve. For the agricultural sector, this means centering the needs of working food producers in every initiative.

    The FAO of the future must position itself closer to farmers, scientific researchers, private sector partners, academic institutions, and national policy-makers. It must identify proven, workable solutions, connect those solutions to the communities and regions that need them most, and support local adaptation and scaled adoption of successful practices. Above all, we must close the persistent gap between scientific knowledge and on-the-ground agricultural practice.

    Throughout my years of collaboration with IICA, I worked closely with Manuel Otero and witnessed firsthand his results-focused approach to international agricultural cooperation. Otero prioritized building cross-sector partnerships between scientists, producers, governments, and private industry, and advocated for a model of international cooperation that delivers measurable, concrete outcomes. Our shared work confirmed that well-led international organizations can serve as an effective bridge between scientific innovation and public policy, and facilitate the transfer of context-appropriate knowledge between regions.

    This proven model is particularly relevant today, as the FAO confronts a new set of interconnected global challenges. The organization needs to deepen its collaborative ties with member states, put working farmers at the center of all its strategic priorities, strengthen partnerships with the global scientific community and private sector, and more effectively disseminate proven best practices across borders.

    Otero’s track record offers a clear, actionable blueprint for how the FAO can pursue this necessary transformation. His potential candidacy for FAO Director-General brings a comprehensive, experience-tested set of solutions to the pressing challenges the organization currently faces.

    Yet the stakes of this moment extend far beyond any single individual. At its core, what we are debating is what kind of FAO the world needs to meet 21st-century challenges.

    We need an FAO capable of leading a new, sustainable global agricultural revolution: one rooted in scientific evidence, that enables us to produce more food with fewer resources, that restores degraded soils rather than depleting them, and that generates inclusive prosperity for farming communities and food systems worldwide. The knowledge to achieve this already exists, and so do proven, successful examples. What we need now is the collective will and institutional capacity to turn that knowledge into global action.

  • Hurricane Polo Weakens Slightly to Category 4, Begins Moving Away From Mexico’s Coast

    Hurricane Polo Weakens Slightly to Category 4, Begins Moving Away From Mexico’s Coast

    In the latest update from the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), Hurricane Polo has weakened slightly from its peak Category 5 intensity to a high-end Category 4 storm, and has begun its steady movement away from the southwestern coast of Mexico. As of 9:00 a.m. Central Standard Time on Thursday, the storm’s core was positioned approximately 195 miles west-southwest of Zihuatanejo and around 150 miles south of Manzanillo, tracking west-northwest at a steady 10 miles per hour.

    Meteorologists project that the storm will shift to a pure westward trajectory through the remainder of Thursday and Friday, before resuming a west-northwest path on Saturday. This projected track means the system will continue to pull farther from the Mexican mainland over the coming days.

    At the time of the advisory, Polo’s maximum sustained winds clocked in at 155 miles per hour, just 5 mph below the Category 5 threshold on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Its minimum central pressure was measured at 928 millibars, a reading that reflects the storm’s still-extreme strength. Hurricane-force gusts and sustained winds extend outward 40 miles from the storm’s center, while tropical storm-force conditions reach as far as 125 miles from the core. Forecasters note that minor fluctuations in strength remain possible over the next 48 hours, even as the system tracks away from land.

    Despite Polo’s outward movement, public safety alerts remain in place for much of Mexico’s southwestern coast. A Tropical Storm Warning is still active for the stretch of coastline from Tecpan de Galeana to Manzanillo, while a Tropical Storm Watch extends from west of Manzanillo to Playa Perula. Tropical storm conditions are already being recorded in the warning zone and are expected to persist for several more hours, with similar conditions possible in the watch area through the day.

    The greatest lingering threats to inland and coastal communities come from heavy rainfall and ocean activity. The NHC projects that coastal regions of Michoacán, Colima, northern and southern Jalisco, and Nayarit will see an additional 2 to 4 inches of rain, with isolated spots receiving up to 6 inches of precipitation. This added rainfall raises the risk of life-threatening flash floods and mudslides, especially in mountainous and steep-terrain areas that are already vulnerable to storm-related hazards. Coastal Guerrero and central Jalisco can expect an additional 1 to 2 inches of rain, according to the forecast.

    Large swells generated by Polo are also expected to impact southwestern Mexico over the next two days, spreading north to west-central Mexico and Baja California Sur by Friday and through the weekend. These swells will likely create dangerous surf conditions, powerful rip currents, and coastal flooding that threaten life for beachgoers and coastal residents.

    Federal and local officials are urging all residents in potentially affected areas across southwestern Mexico and Baja California Sur to continue closely monitoring updates on Polo’s track and intensity. The NHC will issue its next official advisory on the storm at 3:00 p.m. CST Thursday.

  • Dominican Republic calls for stronger measures to protect coastal communities

    Dominican Republic calls for stronger measures to protect coastal communities

    Against the backdrop of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York, a pressing call for collective action on climate change has emerged from the Caribbean region. At the 4th Climate Mobility Summit, a parallel event focusing on climate-driven population movement, Max Puig, executive vice president of the Dominican Republic’s National Council for Climate Change and Carbon Market (CNCCMC), delivered a clear appeal for strengthened cross-border collaboration to counter accelerating sea level rise and the climate displacement it triggers.

    Puig opened his remarks by stressing that no single Caribbean nation can shoulder the burden of this growing crisis alone. As a small island developing state with over 1,500 kilometers of exposed coastline, the Dominican Republic offers a stark example of the region’s vulnerability. Most of the country’s population, critical infrastructure, and core economic sectors are concentrated along its shorelines, leaving these assets extremely exposed to the gradual advance of rising seas. If current warming trends continue, Puig explained, higher sea levels will exacerbate a cascade of interconnected threats: intensified coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion into freshwater supplies, more frequent and severe flooding, and amplified storm surges that overwhelm coastal defenses. These changes do not only threaten human settlements—they also degrade the natural barriers that protect communities, including mangroves, coral reefs, and sand beaches, all of which underpin the Caribbean’s two largest economic pillars: fishing and tourism.

    The human cost of this degradation is already visible, Puig emphasized. More than 9,000 Dominican fishermen and their families rely directly on healthy coral reefs for their livelihoods. As reefs decline, this endangers not just jobs and household incomes, but also local food security and the ability of generations-old coastal communities to remain on their traditional lands. For the Dominican Republic, displacement driven by climate hazards is not a distant threat: national data records show more than 79,000 people were displaced by climate and weather disasters between 2017 and 2022, most from sudden extreme weather events. Unlike these acute events, Puig noted, sea level rise acts as a slow-onset crisis that gradually erodes the habitability and economic viability of coastal areas, creating a hidden, steady flow of displacement that is often overlooked in global climate planning.

    The scale of potential displacement across the entire Greater Caribbean region is staggering. Projections from the Climate Mobility Model for the Greater Caribbean estimate that by 2050, roughly 8.2 million people could be permanently displaced by the economic impacts of climate change, with nearly 6 million of those people relocating within their own national borders. Puig was careful to clarify that these figures are not definitive predictions—instead, they serve as an urgent warning to help governments proactively plan for future pressures on communities, housing, critical infrastructure, and public services that will come with widespread displacement.

    To address this growing crisis, Puig outlined three non-negotiable priorities for regional and global action. First, he called for greatly expanded, accessible financing for climate adaptation projects, noting that small island developing states lack the capital to fund large-scale coastal protection and planning on their own. Second, he urged regional cooperation frameworks that center the protection of the rights and dignity of displaced communities, rather than treating displacement as a purely administrative problem. Third, he pushed for a just green economic transition that generates new, sustainable employment opportunities for young people in the region, creating alternatives to climate-vulnerable coastal livelihoods.

    Currently, the CNCCMC is partnering with the Global Center for Climate Mobility to develop public policies and international cooperation mechanisms designed to shield vulnerable communities and their unique cultural heritage from climate-related harm. This work aligns with the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise, a global agreement that aims to improve risk mapping and data collection, strengthen adaptation capacity, expand climate financing, and protect at-risk communities. The declaration also prioritizes the preservation and documentation of cultural heritage threatened by sea level rise, including traditional territories, historic cemeteries, sacred indigenous sites, archaeological landmarks, and culturally significant coastal landscapes that define the identity of Caribbean communities.

  • Tropical Disturbance Now Has 70% Chance of Developing in Atlantic

    Tropical Disturbance Now Has 70% Chance of Developing in Atlantic

    The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) has upgraded its probability forecast for a developing tropical system in the far eastern Atlantic, now estimating a 70% chance that the disturbance will strengthen into either a tropical depression or a named tropical storm. In its official 8 a.m. public update issued Thursday, forecasters outlined that the broad low-pressure system, identified by the designation AL90, is currently positioned several hundred miles south-southeast of the Cabo Verde Islands. At present, the system generates a wide, disorganized spread of showers and convective thunderstorm activity across the surrounding region.

    Per NHC forecasting models, AL90 is projected to track northwestward, eventually shifting to a more northward path over the coming days. This trajectory will bring the system close enough to the Cabo Verde Islands to bring unsettled weather to parts of the archipelago by Friday. The 48-hour and seven-day formation probabilities for the system both sit at 70%, marking a 10 percentage point increase from the 60% odds published in the NHC’s 2 a.m. outlook earlier Thursday.

    Despite the elevated chance of early formation, NHC forecasters note that unfavorable atmospheric conditions will halt the system’s strengthening by the weekend. Increasing wind shear in the upper levels of the atmosphere is expected to tear the system apart, limiting any further organized development after that point. While the system is not expected to last long, local authorities and residents across the Cabo Verde Islands have been urged to stay updated on the latest forecasts. The disturbance is projected to bring gusty winds, intense downpours, and a heightened risk of flash flooding to portions of the island chain starting as early as Friday.

    As of the latest Thursday update, AL90 remains far out in the eastern tropical Atlantic. The NHC’s current assessment confirms that there is no immediate threat to the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, nor to any areas in the northeastern Caribbean. Forecasters will continue to issue regular updates and track the system’s movement and development closely as it progresses across the Atlantic basin.

  • CAF grants US$200k for resilient housing standards

    CAF grants US$200k for resilient housing standards

    The Caribbean, long recognized as one of the globe’s most high-risk regions for natural hazards, is set to receive targeted support to improve its residential safety standards, after the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) greenlit a $200,000 technical assistance grant for the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

    For decades, frequent extreme weather events including devastating tropical cyclones, flash floods, catastrophic landslides, and unforeseen seismic activity have destroyed residential neighborhoods, uprooted communities, and set back years of hard-won economic progress across the Caribbean’s small developing island nations. Unlike reactive post-disaster reconstruction efforts, this new 18-month initiative, the Regional Resilient Residential Construction and Reconstruction Project, prioritizes proactive risk reduction to strengthen the region’s existing housing stock, prevent preventable loss of life, protect personal property, and speed up social and economic recovery following future extreme events.

    Built on the foundation of CDEMA’s existing Safer Building Programme, the project centers its work on the people and institutions that shape local construction practices across the region. Unlike large-scale infrastructure projects that focus only on physical builds, this initiative targets human capacity: technical assistance will directly reach local builders, trade artisans, independent construction contractors, and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions across 19 Caribbean member states. Through hands-on targeted training and updated educational materials, the program will upskill current tradespeople in climate-resilient construction techniques, while supporting vocational colleges to integrate the region’s official Regional Code of Practice for Residential Construction into their permanent core curricula, creating long-term systemic change.

    Beyond upskilling trade professionals, the initiative also aims to embed a culture of disaster preparedness across all layers of Caribbean society. A core component of the grant will fund public and institutional awareness campaigns to highlight the life-saving value of resilient housing standards. By engaging homeowners, local mortgage lenders, property developers, and national government policymakers, the project seeks to drive widespread adoption of certified, safer building practices for both public sector housing developments and private residential construction.

    Dr. Stacy Richards-Kennedy, CAF’s regional manager for the Caribbean, emphasized that proactive risk management delivers far greater long-term value than post-disaster recovery. “Rebuilding after a disaster will always be necessary, but preparing before one strikes is where we can make the greatest difference,” she explained. “Resilience begins with the way residential infrastructure is designed and built. This aligns with CAF’s commitment to invest not only in resilient infrastructure projects, but also in knowledge, technical capacity and practices that will serve to reinforce a culture of disaster preparedness across the Caribbean. CAF is proud to partner with CDEMA and to provide technical assistance grant funding to support this important project to build more resilient communities.”

    CDEMA Executive Director Elizabeth Riley echoed this focus on pre-emptive investment, noting that repeated climate disasters have underscored the urgent need to build local capacity to protect the region’s hard-won socio-economic development. “Every disaster reminds us that resilience is not built in the aftermath of an event, but through the decisions we make before it occurs,” Riley said. “Strengthening the way our homes and communities are designed and built is therefore a critical investment in protecting lives, livelihoods and our development gains.”

    Riley also highlighted the critical role of cross-institutional partnerships in advancing long-term climate adaptation and regional safety. “CDEMA is pleased to be working with CAF to address these challenges by strengthening resilient construction practices, building technical capacity and promoting greater disaster preparedness across the Caribbean,” she said. “Partnerships such as this are critical to ensuring that our communities are better prepared to withstand the impacts of disasters and that the region’s development gains are protected.”