Carib Scope

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  • Antigua and Barbuda Backs Effort to Secure Long-Term Funding for CDEMA

    Antigua and Barbuda Backs Effort to Secure Long-Term Funding for CDEMA

    The Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda recently hosted a high-stakes briefing from the Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) during an official working visit focused on climate resilience and regional disaster preparedness. The executive leader’s trip to the twin-island nation included two core priorities: joining official ceremonies to open newly modernized hurricane shelters, and holding strategic discussions with top government officials about coordinated regional efforts to mitigate disaster risk.

    During her presentation to the Cabinet, the Executive Director opened with a stark assessment of the shifting risk landscape that defines the modern Caribbean. Climate-fueled extreme weather events, she noted, are growing more frequent, more intense, and more economically devastating with each passing year, placing unprecedented strain on local and regional response frameworks. Beyond coordinating urgent emergency relief operations when disasters strike, she emphasized that regional disaster management bodies now must also take the lead on long-term resilience-building and post-disaster recovery efforts across all participating Caribbean states.

    The briefing outlined CDEMA’s enduring, irreplaceable role in the region: the agency remains the central coordinating body for cross-border disaster response, and delivers critical support to member states through specialized technical guidance, hands-on training for emergency personnel, and on-the-ground operational assistance during crises. However, the presentation also laid bare the growing challenges the organization currently confronts: as global development priorities shift, traditional streams of international donor funding have become far less predictable, creating mounting financial and operational pressures that threaten CDEMA’s ability to deliver on its mandate.

    In response to these pressures, the Executive Director outlined the agency’s ongoing strategic overhaul to shore up its long-term capacity. These changes include internal institutional restructuring to boost efficiency, investments in cutting-edge technical expertise, and work to build new, more sustainable financing models that reduce reliance on volatile donor funding. A key takeaway from the presentation was the urgent call for all participating member states to ramp up their own investments in regional preparedness infrastructure, to guarantee that life-saving response resources are pre-positioned and ready to deploy the moment a disaster hits.

    Cabinet members used the briefing to reflect on Antigua and Barbuda’s decades-long partnership with CDEMA, noting that the country has reaped substantial benefits from the relationship. Official Cabinet records confirm that between 2019 and 2025 alone, the nation received more than $100 million in combined technical and financial support through the regional body, including emergency response assistance for past storm events, specialized training for local emergency teams, and expanded access to a growing network of regional and international disaster risk partners.

    The Executive Director also highlighted Antigua and Barbuda’s unique leadership role within the regional disaster management system: the country has served as a designated Sub-Regional Focal Point for the network for more than 30 years, a strategic position that allows it to coordinate response efforts for neighboring jurisdictions and share local expertise across the Caribbean. Cabinet members acknowledged that this leadership role not only strengthens Antigua and Barbuda’s own national preparedness, but also lifts collective resilience across all Caribbean small island developing states, boosting the regional collective security that all nations depend on.

    Following the conclusion of the presentation, the Antigua and Barbuda Cabinet issued a formal reaffirmation of its unwavering support for CDEMA’s work across the region. Cabinet members recognized that the organization plays an indispensable role in protecting lives, protecting private and public property, and safeguarding the Caribbean’s critical tourism-driven economic activity in an era of growing climate risk.

    Ministers also agreed that strengthening national and regional disaster preparedness and response systems will remain a top national policy priority for Antigua and Barbuda, particularly as the region confronts increasingly complex climate and environmental challenges that show no sign of abating. The Cabinet further expressed its full backing for CDEMA’s efforts to secure long-term financial and operational sustainability, and welcomed ongoing discussions about deepening regional cooperation, expanding capacity-building initiatives, and reforming financing arrangements that will boost overall disaster resilience across the entire Caribbean.

    In closing, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda reaffirmed its long-term commitment to working hand-in-hand with CDEMA and other regional partners to build safer, more climate-resilient communities across the nation, and to ensure that the country remains fully prepared to respond effectively to future emergencies and natural disasters.

  • VN: Oorlog tussen VS en Iran bedreigt miljoenen mensen met voedselcrisis

    VN: Oorlog tussen VS en Iran bedreigt miljoenen mensen met voedselcrisis

    The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a stark warning that the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran is pushing millions of vulnerable people across the globe into an acute food security emergency, with the crisis already unfolding as earlier predictions warned.

  • Oproep voor openluchtcrematieoord in Commewijne bij herdenking Hindostaanse immigratie

    Oproep voor openluchtcrematieoord in Commewijne bij herdenking Hindostaanse immigratie

    On June 6, communities across Suriname gathered in multiple districts including Paramaribo, Nickerie, Saramacca and Commewijne to mark the 153rd anniversary of Hindostani immigration to the South American nation. The commemorative events, which centered on honoring the legacy and contributions of early immigrant ancestors, also shone a spotlight on a longstanding local request: the development of a dedicated open-air cremation ground in Commewijne.

    Local residents and business owners have turned to the Hindostani Immigration Memorial Foundation (SHI) to advance this initiative, which caters to the religious and cultural traditions of Suriname’s large Hindostani community. SHI chairperson Ramon Jawalapersad confirmed that private entrepreneurs have already stepped forward to cover the full cost of constructing the facility. The only outstanding requirement from the national government is a formal allocation of a suitable plot of land for the project. The request for support has officially been forwarded to Suriname President Jennifer Simons, who led the main commemorative ceremony in the capital Paramaribo.

    During the Paramaribo event, President Simons carried out the traditional wreath-laying ritual at the iconic Baba and Mai monument, a national memorial erected to honor the first Hindostani immigrants who arrived in Suriname. She made history as the first head of state to place sacred mala garlands around the monument’s two figures, in a symbolic gesture of recognition for the immigrant community’s journey.

    Multiple speakers at the ceremony reflected on the outsized impact the Hindostani community has had on Suriname’s national development, emphasizing that this history is an inseparable core of the broader Surinamese national story. President Simons echoed this sentiment in her address, noting that Hindostani influences are visible across every sector of Surinamese life. She explained that the community’s contributions extend far beyond economic growth, shaping the nation’s cultural, spiritual and moral fabric for generations. “The values of hard work, family honor, discipline, education and faith that the community brought with it have shaped generations of Surinamese, and those values remain visible across our society today,” Simons said. She even highlighted the community’s impact on national cuisine, joking, “I cannot go a week without masala.”

    The president also stressed that Suriname’s full national history cannot be separated from the experiences of the nation’s Indigenous peoples, whose presence on the land predates all immigrant communities. “No matter how we all came to live together here, we must never forget that everyone who arrived encountered the Indigenous peoples who have called this land home for centuries,” she said. “We also must never forget the sacrifices made by all of our ancestors, from every background.”

    While much of the ceremony focused on reflecting on the past, President Simons emphasized that the day’s remembrance must also serve as a foundation for collective future progress. “For me, this remembrance does not end with the story of how we all came together here,” she said. “That story is just the beginning of how we will continue to move forward together. We already know our shared history; now our work is to build our shared future.”

    President Simons did not offer an official substantive response to the open-air cremation ground request during the event, but Jawalapersad remains optimistic that the project will move forward. “It will happen yet,” he said. “Commewijne has plenty of available land, and we actually do not need very much to build this facility. Private entrepreneurs are still fully willing to cover all the necessary investment. The only thing we need is the land allocation.”

    Jawalapersad explained that a plot of land was previously approved and allocated for the cremation ground years ago, and environmental impact studies were even completed for the project. But in a final twist, the allocated parcel was ultimately reissued to a different third party, leaving the initiative stalled. Community organizers now hope this renewed call during the 153rd immigration commemoration will help move the project across the finish line.

  • World Environment Day 2026 : Green Jobs and Citizen Action

    World Environment Day 2026 : Green Jobs and Citizen Action

    To mark 2026 World Environment Day, Haiti’s Ministry of the Environment oversaw a sweeping national series of public engagement, education, and conservation activities across all 10 of the country’s departmental jurisdictions on June 5, 2026. The nationwide campaign highlighted the critical role of grassroots citizen action and green economic opportunity in building a more sustainable future for the Caribbean nation.

    In the northern department, outreach teams brought environmental education programming to more than 1,200 secondary and primary students across multiple municipalities including Cap-Haïtien, Acul-du-Nord, and Plaine-du-Nord. Event organizers hosted interactive panel discussions, community awareness walks, and completed a large-scale native energy forest restoration project in Mapou, Plaisance. Moving east to the Northeast department, 500 area schoolchildren learned about the devastating impacts of plastic pollution and the urgency of ecosystem restoration, capped off by a community tree planting drive in Morne-Casse and a cross-school public awareness campaign.

    In Haiti’s Northwest, pre-event preparations centered on upskilling local journalists and educators to accurately communicate climate change science, facilitate cross-stakeholder dialogue, and lead consistent community outreach. On World Environment Day itself, the department hosted a public awareness march, a full beach cleanup operation in Haut-Fourneau, the planting of 500 coconut saplings, and guided educational activities in the region’s critical coastal mangrove ecosystems out of Port-de-Paix.

    The Artibonite department continued its long-running work to mobilize local communities around natural resource conservation and improvements to public living conditions through targeted outreach. In the Centre department, activities centered on youth engagement, watershed protection, and widespread adoption of eco-friendly daily practices. The West Department intensified school-focused outreach, holding a public tree planting event at the Canapé-Vert Urban Nature Park and launching a large awareness campaign across multiple schools in the Delmas and Pétion-ville districts.

    In Nippes, more than 1,500 students and teachers from 15 schools across five departmental municipalities participated in organized activities, with the department’s 2026 Eco-Genius environmental competition serving as a centerpiece of the day’s celebrations. The southern department reached nearly 3,000 students through a multi-municipality education campaign focused on waste management, natural resource protection, and climate change adaptation, with sustained community mobilization and additional tree planting wrapping up the day’s events.

    The Southeast department broke new ground by hosting the region’s first ever Departmental Forum on Climate Change, an extension of the ongoing “Environmental Fridays” and national Eco-Genius public education programs. Beyond the forum, local organizers distributed clean, energy-efficient eco-stoves to households in Belle-Anse, hosted targeted climate and energy professional training sessions, held a public environmental fair, and organized a public awareness parade through the coastal town of Jacmel. In Grand’Anse, planning centered on cross-institutional collaboration and partner mobilization, with a specific focus on protecting the Clément Spring, a critical source of drinking water for the city of Jérémie.

    At the national level, the Ministry of the Environment hosted a flagship open house event at the Karibe Hotel in Pétion-ville, themed “Green Jobs Serving a Sustainable Haiti”. Held under the official patronage of Haiti’s Prime Minister, the gathering brought together a diverse cross-section of stakeholders: technical teams from across the Ministry, leadership from the National Agency for Protected Areas (ANAP), the National Solid Waste Management Service (SNGRS), and the Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME), private environmental enterprises, local recycling artisans, academic researchers, international technical and financial partners, and hundreds of participating students and young activists.

    The national event featured three interconnected exhibition zones showcasing institutional environmental initiatives, artisanal upcycled goods, and green small business innovations. Organizers also held public conferences exploring green job growth and the potential of Haiti’s blue economy, hands-on educational activities for young attendees, and an official opening ceremony that included the public reading of student letters outlining collective visions for a healthy, sustainable Haitian environment by 2050.

  • British man fined $15 000 for rifle seized at Vieux Fort port

    British man fined $15 000 for rifle seized at Vieux Fort port

    In a high-profile enforcement action targeting cross-border criminal activity in Saint Lucia, a British national who resides in Laborie has been ordered to pay $15,000 in fines after entering guilty pleas to two firearm-related charges. The penalties stem from the seizure of an undeclared rifle at the Vieux Fort Seaport, uncovered during a coordinated multi-agency crackdown.

    The operation, carried out last Wednesday, brought together three specialized law enforcement units: the Gangs, Narcotics and Firearms Unit (South) of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), the service’s K-9 Unit, and the Customs and Excise Preventative Unit. According to official statements from the RSLPF, the joint inspection was part of a broader, stepped-up campaign to disrupt organized criminal activity across the island. Law enforcement teams focused their searches on high-priority locations, including courier company facilities and cargo storage sheds throughout the Vieux Fort district.

    During a systematic search of the seaport’s Shed 2, officers located a rifle hidden inside an incoming cargo shipment. The consignee listed for the package was David Charles Mulvany, who was present at the facility during the search. Following the discovery, Mulvany was taken into police custody and charged with two violations under Saint Lucia’s firearms laws: possession of a firearm without a valid license, and illegal importation of a firearm without the required authorization.

    On the day of his court appearance before the Second District Court, Mulvany pleaded guilty to both charges. In sentencing, the judge imposed a $10,000 fine for the unlicensed possession charge, plus an additional $5,000 fine for the unlawful importation count, bringing the total penalty to $15,000. The court ruled that the full sum must be paid immediately, with a strict fallback provision: if Mulvany fails to satisfy the fine, he will face a five-year prison sentence in lieu of payment.

    The case underscores the Saint Lucian government’s ongoing commitment to strengthening border security and cracking down on illegal weapons trafficking, a priority that has driven increased joint operations between police and customs agencies across the island’s ports of entry.

  • Sterke groei in China-Latijns-Amerika handel en samenwerking

    Sterke groei in China-Latijns-Amerika handel en samenwerking

    This month marks the first anniversary of the landmark Five Initiatives for Building a China-Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Community with a Shared Future, a strategic cooperation framework first proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in May 2025. Over the past 12 months, despite a turbulent and fragmented global geopolitical and economic landscape, China and LAC member states have maintained close coordination and advanced the partnership to deliver impressive, tangible outcomes across multiple sectors.

    Trade ties, the backbone of the bilateral relationship, have hit new milestones. Total bilateral trade volume hit a record high of $549 billion in 2025, a figure that underscores the deep economic complementarity between the two regions. This upward momentum has continued into 2026, with preliminary data for the first four months of the year showing an 18.5% year-on-year expansion in trade volume, outpacing many other global trade corridors.

    People-to-people exchanges have also seen unprecedented growth, driven by widespread visa liberalization measures on both sides. China has implemented visa-free entry policies for citizens of major LAC economies including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, while multiple LAC nations have reciprocated by easing travel restrictions for Chinese visitors. These policy shifts have unlocked rapid growth in cross-border tourism, student exchanges and cultural cooperation, bringing populations on both sides closer together.

    Infrastructure development, a core focus of bilateral cooperation, has delivered widespread, tangible benefits to local communities across the LAC region. Backed by Chinese investment and advanced engineering technology, major projects have upgraded critical connectivity and public services: the Belo Monte transmission project in Brazil now delivers reliable power access to more than 22 million people; renovation work on the Mexico City Metro line has improved commuter safety and efficiency; and the new Bogotá Metro line continues to make steady progress toward completion. Beyond improving quality of life, these large-scale infrastructure projects have created thousands of local jobs and laid stronger foundations for long-term economic growth.

    Cooperation has also expanded into manufacturing and service sectors, generating new employment opportunities and strengthening local supply chains. When Western automakers divested from their production facilities in Brazil, Chinese automotive firms acquired the sites, restarted operations, restored thousands of jobs and revitalized local automotive supply networks. In the service sector, major Chinese consumer brands such as Meituan have expanded their regional footprint, creating new local jobs and spurring innovation in the digital service space.
    Beyond economic and infrastructure ties, the partnership has deepened in education and cultural exchange. China now offers hundreds of annual scholarships to LAC students pursuing higher education in China, and has launched new Confucius Institutes across the region to expand Chinese language learning. High-profile cultural initiatives, including the 2025-2026 China-Brazil Cultural Year, have brought art, performance and cultural exchanges to audiences across both regions, strengthening mutual understanding and people-to-people connections.

    While analysts note that shifting political landscapes and domestic policy changes across some LAC nations create long-term considerations for the partnership, Chinese authorities have repeatedly reaffirmed that their policy toward the region remains consistent and stable, regardless of changes in national governments across LAC. The bilateral relationship is rooted in principles of mutual respect for territorial sovereignty and a focus on shared long-term development interests, creating a resilient foundation for cooperation.

    International policy experts emphasize that the deepening China-LAC partnership is driven by aligned development goals, shared experiences of developing economies, and a common vision for a more balanced global order. In an era marked by rising geopolitical tension, economic fragmentation and global uncertainty, the partnership offers both sides much-needed stability, mutual solidarity and new inclusive growth opportunities.

    Looking ahead, the future of China-LAC relations remains highly promising. Both sides have committed to deepening cooperation across trade, infrastructure, people-to-people ties, innovation and technology, with a shared goal of advancing sustainable, inclusive growth that delivers benefits to all communities across both regions. Over the coming years, continued deepening of the China-LAC partnership is not only expected to boost shared economic prosperity, but also contribute to the development of a more multipolar, fair and equitable global international order.

  • GWP-C participates in critical regional meetings in The Bahamas

    GWP-C participates in critical regional meetings in The Bahamas

    Against a backdrop of growing climate vulnerability for Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), two landmark regional climate-focused gatherings wrapped up in Nassau, The Bahamas, in late May 2026, uniting cross-sector stakeholders to scale up early warning systems, climate services, and collective climate resilience across the region. Dr. Roxanne Graham-Victor, Regional Coordinator of Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C), played a central role in both events, bringing critical expertise on water security and integrated water management to the table.

    The first gathering, the 14th Coordination Partners Meeting of the Consortium of Regional Sectoral Early Warning Information Systems across Climate Timescales (EWISACTs), ran from May 25 to 26, followed immediately by the 2026 Wet/Hurricane Season Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) Stakeholder Forum, held May 27 to 28. Both events were convened by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), with core financial and technical backing from the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Initiative, the ClimSA programme, and the European Union.

    GWP-C has long held observer partner status within the EWISACTs Consortium, contributing specialized technical and strategic guidance on issues spanning water security, integrated water resources management, climate adaptation, and the integration of climate data into cross-sector policy and decision-making. At this year’s EWISACTs meeting, representatives from more than a dozen leading regional institutions and development partners spanning climate, water, disaster management, health, agriculture, tourism, and energy came together to advance shared resilience goals. Attendees included delegates from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), and the Caribbean Meteorological Organisation (CMO), among other global development partners.

    Over the course of the two-day EWISACTs meeting, participants reviewed progress on ongoing climate services rollout across the region, explored new avenues for collaborative resource mobilization, moved forward work on the expanding Caribbean Climate Impacts Database (CCID), and tightened coordination mechanisms between organizations working on discrete climate resilience initiatives. The meeting also dedicated focused discussion to the proposed Caribbean Climate Impacts Monitoring Network (CCIMNet) and mapped out next steps for ongoing collaboration under the ClimSA programme.

    Following the conclusion of EWISACTs, Dr. Graham-Victor took on the role of chair for the final day of the CariCOF Stakeholder Forum, where participants delved into the emerging tools, cross-sector partnerships, and targeted investment needed to bolster weather, climate, and hydrological services across every Caribbean island nation. Sessions led by Dr. Graham-Victor featured detailed presentations on the existing Global Flood Awareness System (GloFAS) and the newly proposed Caribbean Flood Awareness System (CaribFAS), which would tailor global flood monitoring capabilities to the unique hydrological and geographic needs of the Caribbean. Attendees also explored specialized tools for disaster risk assessment tied to regional weather and climate patterns, and discussed pathways to secure sustainable funding for fit-for-purpose climate and hydrological services tailored to local needs.

    Collectively, the forum sessions underscored a core truth for climate action in the Caribbean: stronger forecasting capabilities, expanded climate information services, reliable hydrological outlooks, and coordinated regional partnerships are non-negotiable foundations for effective disaster preparedness, sustained water security, long-term climate resilience, and evidence-based decision-making across the region’s SIDS.

    In reflections shared after the gatherings, Dr. Graham-Victor emphasized that meaningful climate resilience requires sustained investment not just in technical climate information systems, but also in the regional institutions that translate raw data into actionable policy and on-the-ground action. “Water security, disaster risk reduction, agriculture, tourism, health, and infrastructure planning all depend on access to reliable climate and hydrological information,” she noted. “The EWISACTs and CariCOF meetings helped move this agenda forward by advancing regional collaboration, identifying practical opportunities for resource mobilisation, and strengthening coordination around the climate services needed to support informed decision-making and resilience-building across Caribbean SIDS.”

    Looking ahead, GWP-C reaffirmed its longstanding commitment to supporting regional climate action, continuing to collaborate with Caribbean governments, regional specialized institutions, and global development partners to strengthen collective climate resilience, advance universal water security, and advance climate-informed sustainable development across the Caribbean region.

  • The watchman has walked off the wall

    The watchman has walked off the wall

    As June 2026 ushers in another Atlantic hurricane season, the ritual of preparation for Caribbean communities has changed in form but not in stakes. For generations, islanders have marked the season with old rhymes and quiet urgency: June too soon, July standby, August a must, September remember, October not yet over. Where once communities huddled around radios to catch storm coordinates from distant forecasters, today they track storm cones on social media. But one unchanging truth remains: hurricanes are spotted first by others, and early detection is the line between a disrupted week and a tragic funeral. Today, U.S. policy choices have made that early detection far harder.

    The human cost of this vulnerability is not a new statistic — it is etched into the displaced lives of Caribbean people. I still recall Hurricane Lenny, the 1999 off-season storm that struck Chateaubelair from an unexpected western direction, tearing away a fishing boat one man named Joseph had spent seven years of skipped lunches and mended nets paying off. When the storm cleared, only frayed ropes remained tied to the shore. Joseph never rebuilt his life on St Vincent; a month later, he left to work on a cruise ship out of Miami, and has come home just four times in 25 years. Hurricanes do not always kill. They force you to live out the rest of your life on someone else’s terms.

    That same violence visited the Grenadines just two years ago, in July 2024. Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 Atlantic storm ever recorded, destroyed 90% of homes on Union Island and stripped every roof from buildings on Mayreau. Three weeks after the storm, I met a mother named Celia who had sheltered with her two young children in a stone church. When the eye of the storm passed over, her four-year-old son Malachi looked up and asked, “Mummy, is God angry at us?” Celia reassured him no, but never shared that the church walls were shaking, that stained glass was exploding into a horizontal rain of colored shards. When they emerged, only one wall of their home remained standing. Pinned to that wall, where their kitchen once stood, was Malachi’s baby photograph — a small, fragile miracle that will likely cross oceans before Celia ever sees a cent of compensation from global climate loss and damage funds.

    The warming of Caribbean waters by nearly 2°F since 1980 is not an abstract climate number. It is why Beryl intensified to Category 5 in July, when storms of that strength almost never form before September. For Caribbean nations, hurricanes are never just weather events — they are reverse development, erasing decades of progress in a single night. When Hurricane Maria hit Dominica in 2017, it destroyed 226% of the country’s annual GDP, 90% of its housing stock, and its entire power grid. Poverty rates were projected to jump to 43%, and with no emergency reserves to draw on, Dominica was forced to borrow against its children’s future to replace infrastructure the country had already paid for once.

    The statistics never tell the full story. Maria hit just two years after Tropical Storm Erika had already gutted the island. A teacher in Roseau described 12-year-old students who had already lost three homes since 2015. Three childhood homes, one single childhood. Caribbean communities are hit again before they can finish rebuilding, mortgaging the same schools and clinics twice in one generation, and forced to pay interest on the debt. We call repeated trauma “resilience” because admitting we have failed these children is too unbearable to face. But these children are not resilient — they are exhausted.

    This year, forecasters at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting a below-average hurricane season, and many are breathing a sigh of relief. But Caribbean communities know better than to celebrate. Every forecaster attaches the same critical warning: it only takes one storm to destroy a life, a community, a country. A “quiet” season just means fewer chances that the catastrophic storm will miss your island.

    The question today is, who is watching the sky for us? The answer has been deliberately altered by Washington. In February 2024, the U.S. administration revoked the official legal finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health — even as the U.S. National Academies of Sciences confirmed that the evidence for climate harm is stronger than ever. Far from refuting the science, the administration simply side-stepped it. A cabinet secretary publicly declared that carbon dioxide was never a pollutant. Can we imagine that: a politician sitting in a temperature-controlled office declaring carbon harmless, while the people of Mayreau dig through the wreckage of their homes around a collapsed church? That politician will never have to bury a neighbor killed by a storm he helped make more dangerous. He lives in a world where climate bills are always sent elsewhere — to small islands that contributed almost nothing to global emissions, but will pay almost the full price.

    This climate denial has tangible, deadly consequences. Washington has cut hundreds of jobs from the U.S. National Weather Service and proposed defunding the Miami-based forecasting laboratories that refine storm track predictions for the entire Caribbean. Experts warn this could cut forecasting accuracy by as much as 40%. For a mother in Basseterre, Bridgetown, Castries, Kingstown, Kingston, St George’s or St John’s, that 40% drop in accuracy is the difference between evacuating your grandmother in time and leaving her behind because the forecast said the storm would turn north. That is not an abstract modeling error — that is the difference between a family gathering for the holidays and a search party combing the shoreline. The storms themselves are fueled by ocean waters warmed by the very carbon emissions Washington now calls harmless. The storm cone that tells a family when to board up their home comes from Miami. When Washington blinds its own forecasting system, it blinds us too.

    Caribbean thinkers have long understood our regional reality as a legacy of colonialism: our economies structured to benefit distant powers, and the systems meant to protect our people always held in someone else’s hands. That has not changed. The U.S. has pulled out of the Paris Agreement, abandoned the board of the UN Loss and Damage Fund, and walked away from its global climate pledges. When wealthy nations decide science is negotiable, small island states do not get a vote. We only get the bill and the graves to dig. The colonial mindset did not disappear — it was repackaged as domestic budget cuts, sold to voters as “putting your country first,” while the cost is passed to us.

    But failure is not limited to Washington. Earlier this year, when Pacific island nation Vanuatu brought a landmark International Court of Justice climate ruling to the UN General Assembly, asking member states only to affirm their legal duty to protect vulnerable climate-hit nations, one of our own Caribbean neighbors — Trinidad and Tobago — was absent from the vote. Not opposed, not abstaining, simply not there, while a fellow small island spoke up for all of us. We cannot demand global solidarity if we do not practice it among ourselves.

    This 2026 hurricane season is not a season to endure and then forget. The U.S. president who rolled back climate protections and cut forecasting funding will hold office for this season and two more, but the damage he has done will not expire when he leaves office. A community’s climate resilience takes a decade to rebuild, and can be destroyed in one storm. When we say the Caribbean cannot wait, we mean it: we face three full hurricane seasons with a warning system that has been deliberately weakened on purpose. Our lives are on the line, and waiting is nothing less than betting our people’s lives on good luck.

    We refuse to make that bet. Lament must turn to action, because despair is just dependency dressed in darker clothes. We are not starting from nothing. We already have a regional disaster agency that responded effectively to Beryl, a regional insurance facility that disburses funds within days, and a Caribbean meteorological institute in Barbados that trains our own forecasters. What these institutions lack is scale, sustainable financing, and the global and regional commitment to make them work.

    Now is the time to find partners and build our own regional systems. We need our own independent satellite reception, free from the budget cycles and political whims of foreign governments. We need our own regional forecasting center, free to issue warnings without needing approval from Miami. We need our own regional disaster bond facility, funded by a small levy on the tourism industry that profits from our beautiful beaches — while we bear all the risk of climate disaster.

    Let us set clear, binding deadlines: by the 2029 hurricane season, we will have a fully Caribbean-owned regional forecasting capability. By 2030, we will have a fully regionally capitalized disaster bond facility to cover emergency response costs. This work does not need Washington’s permission. It only needs our own collective resolve.

    We build this for the people who actually call this region home: for Celia and Malachi, for the 12-year-old children in Roseau who have lost three homes before they even hit puberty.

    I think of the faces of my childhood, gathered around the radio, straining to hear a distant voice that could see the storm before they could. That voice is being switched off now, by choice, in another hemisphere. The watchman has walked off the wall and called it freedom. But the wall is still ours. Our children are standing behind it. We have to hold it ourselves. No one is coming to save us.

  • OP-ED: Is the Caribbean paying for a climate crisis it didn’t create?

    OP-ED: Is the Caribbean paying for a climate crisis it didn’t create?

    For generations, Caribbean households have honed a quiet, collective instinct when a major storm approaches. Before the meteorologist finishes their emergency broadcast, mothers are already inventorying non-perishable food in the pantry, children are filling every available container with fresh water, elders are checking emergency lighting, and fathers stand on porches scanning the horizon, passing down generations of storm-watching knowledge. No words need to be spoken: the whole community knows a hurricane is on its way.

    Once, catastrophic hurricanes were once-in-a-generation events seared into collective memory as singular disasters. Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 was exactly that – a terrifying force that tore through the Caribbean, leaving widespread destruction, loss of life, and lasting psychological trauma that communities still recount decades later. But today, that pattern has shifted drastically. Since 2016, devastating Category 5 hurricanes have become a grim, recurring normal for the region.

    The roll call of destruction stretches across the last decade: In 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in Haiti as a Category 4 storm with 150-mile-per-hour winds – the strongest system to hit the country in more than 50 years. It killed more than 500 people, wiped out 90% of the nation’s crops, and left more than 120,000 families homeless. Three years later in 2017, Category 5 Hurricane Maria erased 226% of Dominica’s total gross domestic product in a matter of hours, rolling back decades of hard-won development. In 2019, Category 5 Hurricane Dorian stalled over the Bahamas for days, wiping the town of Marsh Harbour off the map and leaving families searching for missing loved ones for weeks after the waters receded.

    The pace of destruction accelerated sharply in recent years. In July 2024, Hurricane Beryl made history as the earliest-forming Category 5 storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, forming before the official hurricane season had even fully begun. It hit Carriacou as a Category 4, stripping the island of nearly all infrastructure, destroying crops across Jamaica, and leaving the entire region reeling from the shock of yet another unprecedented disaster. Just 15 months later in 2025, Category 5 Hurricane Melissa became the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, packing 185-mile-per-hour winds that claimed 95 lives and earned its name a permanent retirement from the list of cyclone identifiers.

    This rise in catastrophic storms is not a random coincidence – and it is not a crisis the Caribbean created. The region contributes less than 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it bears the worst brunt of a climate crisis driven by two centuries of fossil fuel dependency driven by the world’s largest economies. While the global north reaped the economic benefits of carbon-intensive development, small island states in the Caribbean are left filling water buckets, rebuilding shattered homes, and burying their dead after every storm.

    The science behind this trend is clear: hurricanes draw their energy from warm ocean water. Decades of carbon pollution have trapped excess heat in the atmosphere, and 90% of that extra heat has been absorbed by the world’s oceans. Today, the Caribbean Sea is far warmer than historic averages, giving every passing storm more destructive power than the one that came before it. Rapid attribution analysis from Climate Central confirms that climate change directly strengthened Hurricane Melissa’s winds, and human-caused carbon emissions made the record-warm ocean temperatures that powered the storm hundreds of times more likely.

    The cumulative toll across the region is immeasurable. When Maria hit Dominica in 2017, then-Prime Minister Skerrit documented the disaster in real time from his storm-battered home, his roof torn away and floodwaters rising around him as the “Nature Island” of the Caribbean fell apart. When Dorian stalled over the Bahamas for two days, entire communities on Abaco and Grand Bahama were completely erased from the map. Beryl damaged or destroyed 90% of all structures on Carriacou, including homes, schools, and the fishing fleets that feed local families. When Melissa made landfall, outer rainbands triggered catastrophic landslides in Haiti, Cuban authorities evacuated 735,000 people in a single night, and western Jamaica was flattened – leaving crops submerged for the second time in less than two years. Time and again, critical infrastructure – hospitals, roads, food supply chains that communities have rebuilt again and again – take another devastating blow.

    Caribbean communities and frontline climate activists have shown extraordinary resilience in the face of repeated ruin, a level of fortitude most of the world will never be forced to demonstrate. But resilience is not a substitute for justice. You cannot rebuild a destroyed hospital with resilience alone, and it is unfair to ask a region to keep “bouncing back” while the fossil fuel policies that create these disasters remain unaddressed. Too often, praise for Caribbean resilience becomes a distraction from the critical question: who is responsible for the unending burden these communities are forced to bear?

    That question is at the heart of the global fight for climate justice, which demands that the world’s wealthiest highest-emitting nations honor their long-overdue climate finance commitments as a legal and moral debt owed, not optional charity to be given or withheld. In a major step forward for the region, the United Nations General Assembly voted in May 2026 to endorse an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change, a resolution co-sponsored by Caribbean nations including Barbados and Jamaica. The opinion clarifies that all states have binding international legal obligations to protect the global climate system, and that nations that fail to meet those obligations can be held liable for damages and forced to pay reparations to affected states.

    Turning this historic legal victory into meaningful change requires concrete action. It means delivering loss and damage funding to small island developing states as outright grants, not predatory loans that deepen existing debt. It means guaranteeing the Caribbean a full, equal seat at every global table where climate policy is negotiated. It requires all major emitting nations to follow through on the ambitious, actionable emissions cuts they promised in their Paris Agreement Nationally Determined Contributions, and to deliver on those commitments on time.

    For Caribbean communities and advocates, the work continues. Citizens must stay resolute in grassroots advocacy, using their voices to demand justice for the region. Beyond educating themselves on the link between hurricanes and human-caused climate change, they must hold their own leaders accountable to push the international community to act, and support the grassroots and regional organizations fighting for climate justice every day.

    The Caribbean did not create the climate crisis that is destroying our communities, but our experience is more than a warning to the rest of the world. It is irrefutable evidence of the human cost of climate inaction. And the most powerful thing we can do today is refuse to stay silent.

  • Dominica’s Gregor Nassief denied US visa weeks after historic CHTA election

    Dominica’s Gregor Nassief denied US visa weeks after historic CHTA election

    Weeks after securing a historic landmark win as the first Dominican-born, Dominican-based leader to head the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), prominent regional tourism executive Gregor Nassief has announced that he and his wife have been denied U.S. visa renewals following their application interview last Friday. This unexpected setback arrives at a critical moment, coming directly on the heels of Nassief’s election as President-elect during the Caribbean Travel Marketplace hosted by Antigua and Barbuda.

    Nassief’s election was widely celebrated across Dominica, marking a breakthrough achievement for the small island nation known as the Nature Isle. It also represented a milestone for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), placing a Dominican citizen at the helm of one of the Caribbean’s most powerful and influential tourism industry bodies for the first time in the association’s history.

    In a Thursday interview with journalist Shermain Bique-Charles, Nassief outlined his deep concerns that the visa rejection carries cascading consequences that stretch far beyond his personal circumstances, impacting Caribbean tourism representation and regional interests on the global stage. “This is much bigger than me,” he emphasized.

    As the incoming CHTA president, Nassief is tasked with representing the Caribbean tourism sector at a wide range of high-stakes international engagements, including global conferences, investment summits, airline negotiations, trade exhibitions, and cross-border policy dialogues. A large majority of these critical events are held in the United States, which stands as the single largest source market for Caribbean tourism.

    Nassief warned that travel restrictions barring senior regional tourism leaders from entering the U.S. directly undermine the Caribbean’s ability to advocate for its policy priorities and sustain essential working relationships with key tourism stakeholders. One of his most pressing worries centers on regional airlift access, a long-standing core challenge for Caribbean tourism destinations.

    The entire Caribbean tourism ecosystem is deeply dependent on reliable air connectivity to drive visitor arrivals, and the majority of major airlines, travel conglomerates, and key industry partners that shape regional air service are based in the United States. Nassief explained that if regional tourism leaders cannot travel freely to attend in-person meetings and negotiations, it will weaken ongoing efforts to expand flight routes, improve connectivity, and strengthen mutually beneficial tourism partnerships.

    These risks are particularly acute for small island developing states like Dominica, where tourism functions as a central pillar of national economic growth and employment. Beyond the tourism sector, Nassief pointed out that the visa denial highlights broader systemic challenges for Caribbean entrepreneurs and business leaders who rely on U.S. travel to pursue commercial activities, secure foreign investment, and participate in professional industry events. The U.S. remains one of Dominica’s most important tourism and trading partners, making unimpeded access to the country critical for multiple sectors of the island’s economy.

    Prior to the visa denial, Nassief’s ascension to the CHTA presidency was a source of enormous national pride for Dominica, reflecting the island’s growing influence in regional tourism governance. A long-standing leading voice for Caribbean tourism, Nassief has spent decades advancing sustainable tourism development, climate resilience, environmental protection, and cross-regional collaboration. He previously led the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association, served as Deputy Chairman of the Discover Dominica Authority, and played a key role in shaping the island’s national tourism strategy and international brand.

    His election to the top CHTA post was widely viewed as a well-earned recognition of both his decades of personal contributions to the sector and Dominica’s emergence as a respected, influential voice in Caribbean tourism. Today, industry observers across the region are raising questions about the wider implications of growing travel barriers for Caribbean leaders, business executives, and tourism representatives seeking entry to the United States.

    For Nassief, the core priority remains the future of the Caribbean tourism industry and the region’s ability to engage meaningfully with its key international partners. As Caribbean destinations continue to grapple with global economic volatility, rising operational costs, and growing competition from other global leisure destinations, he argues that maintaining strong, open international connections is more critical than ever. His core takeaway is unambiguous: travel barriers that impact regional leaders do not only affect the individuals involved — they ultimately ripple through tourism, trade, and investment, weakening the Caribbean’s collective voice on the global stage. For many in Dominica, the situation is a striking, disappointing turn of events: just weeks after one of the nation’s most accomplished tourism leaders achieved one of the highest honors in Caribbean tourism governance, he now faces restrictions that threaten to limit his ability to fully deliver in his new role.