As the United Nations commences the second year of the Second International Decade for People of African Descent (2025-2034), the accelerating climate emergency presents an existential threat to Small Island Developing States that can no longer be marginalized in global discourse. Across the Caribbean and Global South, human-induced climate change has transformed from theoretical concern to daily reality, particularly for over 200 million people of African descent inhabiting formerly colonized territories.
This crisis unfolds against a backdrop of deteriorating global climate governance. The Trump administration’s confirmation of withdrawal from 66 international organizations—including 31 UN bodies specializing in climate policy, sustainable development, and international accountability—has created seismic shifts in diplomatic circles. Critical withdrawals encompass the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and International Renewable Energy Agency, signaling a dangerous retreat by major industrial powers from their environmental responsibilities.
Scientific evidence underscores the urgency. The Americas recorded unprecedented temperatures in 2025, with prolonged heatwaves from February through July breaking historical records across North America, the Caribbean, and South America. This extreme heat intensifies droughts, compromises fragile infrastructure, and fuels catastrophic wildfires. Urban centers face particular vulnerability as ‘heat islands’ exacerbate living conditions—a phenomenon poetically foreshadowed in Bob Marley’s ‘concrete jungle’ depiction of 1970s Kingston.
The Caribbean’s hurricane seasons reveal increasingly destructive patterns, with recent storms devastating Jamaica, Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, and The Bahamas. These are no longer natural disasters but climate-amplified events fueled by warming oceans and atmospheric instability. Each storm leaves devastated infrastructure, lost livelihoods, and communities trapped in cyclical reconstruction with diminishing resources.
This environmental emergency intersects directly with historical injustices. The Caricom Reparations Commission emphasizes that climate change cannot be divorced from colonial legacy—plantation economies created structural poverty that now magnifies climate vulnerability. Reparatory justice demands must encompass climate justice, including adaptation financing, technology transfer, and institutional support.
Regional examples offer hope amidst crisis. Cuba’s conservation efforts—protecting 25% of marine coastal areas including the Caribbean’s largest mangrove forest and significant coral reefs—demonstrate people-centered approaches yielding tangible results. Despite US embargo constraints, Cuba has developed robust meteorological research documenting 121 hurricanes between 1791-2023, though political isolation limits regional knowledge sharing.
Encouragingly, South-South collaboration gains momentum. The African Union and Caricom have forged a powerful alliance around reparatory justice, with the AU designating 2025 as the Year of Reparations and 2026-2036 as the Decade of Reparations. This partnership explicitly links historical redress with climate justice, recognizing the Caribbean’s disproportionate vulnerability. Calls for a global tribunal addressing historical atrocities further underscore demands for accountability.
Caricom’s Environment and Natural Resources Policy Framework signals institutional commitment to integrating environmental justice with sustainable development and climate resilience. In an era of industrial nation unresponsiveness, Caribbean solidarity and Global South cooperation emerge not as radical concepts but essential survival strategies confronting interconnected crises of history, climate, and inequality.
