Carib Scope

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  • UN says armed attacks have led to more displacements in Haiti

    UN says armed attacks have led to more displacements in Haiti

    Amid a years-long deepening humanitarian crisis in Haiti, fresh outbreaks of armed violence in the country’s northern Artibonite department have driven more than a thousand people from their homes, piling additional strain on already overstretched and vulnerable local communities, United Nations officials confirmed in a Monday briefing.

    Speaking to reporters at the UN’s daily press briefing, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric outlined the latest humanitarian fallout from the May 26 attack in the commune of Petite Rivière de Bayonnais. Data collected by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirms that at least 1,100 residents have been displaced by the violence, with nearly all of those forced to flee seeking shelter with host families in the nearby regional hub of Gonaïves.

    Dujarric emphasized that the sudden influx of new arrivals has stretched the already limited, threadbare resources of Gonaïves’ communities to breaking point. For many of those displaced by the recent attack, this is not the first time they have been forced to leave their homes: repeated cycles of violence have left hundreds of thousands of Haitians in constant, dangerous movement across the country.

    The scale of unmet need among newly displaced people stretches far beyond basic survival supplies, Dujarric explained. Alongside critical urgent needs for shelter, clean drinking water, and food, displaced residents also require access to life-saving medical care, psychosocial support, and dedicated protection services — particularly for survivors of gender-based violence, a crisis that has reached catastrophic levels across Haiti amid ongoing instability.

    “While we and our humanitarian partners continue to respond under challenging conditions, the pace and the scale of needs are rising rapidly,” Dujarric told journalists.

    To meet the growing demand for emergency aid, a cross-organizational humanitarian consortium called REZILYANS AYITI has launched a large-scale multi-sector emergency response targeting three of Haiti’s worst-affected departments: West, Central, and Artibonite. The initiative, which is backed by funding from the Regional Humanitarian Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, brings together five leading global and local humanitarian organizations: Plan International, Haiti’s Centre for Rural Development and Community Action (CAPAC), Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children.

    Over the course of the project, which runs through October 2026, the consortium aims to deliver life-saving support to more than 400,000 people impacted by escalating armed violence and mass population displacement across the three regions. The initiative will operate in 10 target communities, delivering multifaceted support to both displaced households and the local communities that have opened their homes to those fleeing violence. Core programming includes flexible cash and financial assistance to boost household stability, as well as targeted interventions to strengthen food security, expand access to clean water, improve hygiene and sanitation infrastructure, and scale up nutrition services.

    A key focus of the nutrition component is expanding access to prevention, early screening, and treatment for global acute malnutrition, a growing threat across displacement camps and overstretched host communities. The response also integrates dedicated child protection services, including psychosocial support, individual case management, and community outreach, to safely identify at-risk children and connect them to the essential services they require. Particular priority is given to supporting girls and other marginalized, vulnerable groups that face disproportionate risk amid Haiti’s ongoing crisis.

    The new response comes as the overall humanitarian situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate at an alarming rate. Current UN data shows that roughly 6.4 million Haitians — more than half of the country’s total population — require urgent humanitarian assistance. An April update from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that 5.8 million people across the country are currently at high risk of life-threatening acute food insecurity.

  • US-registered plane crashes in Guyana’s interior

    US-registered plane crashes in Guyana’s interior

    On a Sunday morning in late May 2026, a small single-engine aircraft registered in the United States went down in the remote interior region of Guyana, aviation and local news sources have confirmed. The downed aircraft, identified as a Cessna 182 with the registration marking N1-82UG, is owned by Domestic Airlines, a local air service founded and operated by experienced Guyanese pilot Orlando Charles.

    According to a senior source familiar with the incident, the crash occurred at Aricheng, a remote location in Guyana’s interior. Egbert Field, Director-General of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and a retired Lieutenant Colonel, confirmed the details of the accident to Demerara Waves Online News, noting that the only person on board — the pilot — escaped with only minor injuries.

    As of the latest update on 31 May 2026, investigators have not yet determined the root cause of the crash. Investigative teams are expected to be deployed to the remote crash site in the coming days to conduct on-site inspections and reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the accident. Multiple attempts to reach Orlando Charles for direct comment on the incident via mobile phone have gone unanswered as of press time.

  • Aardbeving van 6.0 bij Barbados ook in Suriname gevoeld

    Aardbeving van 6.0 bij Barbados ook in Suriname gevoeld

    On Saturday local time, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake was registered south of the Caribbean island nation of Barbados, with faint tremors felt by dozens of residents hundreds of kilometers away in Suriname, according to regional seismic monitoring authorities.

    The Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies (UWI-SRC) confirmed the temblor struck at approximately 17:27 local time, with an epicenter positioned around 100 kilometers south of Bridgetown, Barbados’ capital. The earthquake’s hypocenter was measured at a depth of roughly 53 kilometers. Seismic officials noted that this data remains an preliminary automatic reading, and final figures may be adjusted following full post-event analysis.

    Despite the epicenter being located a substantial distance from Suriname’s territory, residents across multiple regions of the South American country reported detecting light shaking Saturday afternoon. Accounts shared on social media indicate that people positioned on upper floors of tall buildings experienced the movement more distinctly than those at ground level.

    Geographically, Barbados sits along the eastern edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate, a geologically active zone where frequent seismic activity occurs driven by shifting interactions between neighboring tectonic plates. Most earthquakes recorded in this region do not trigger major structural damage, though their tremors can often be detected across wide swathes of the Caribbean basin.

    As of the latest updates, no reports of casualties, structural damage or injuries have been confirmed in Barbados or surrounding areas. No tsunami warnings have been issued by regional ocean and emergency management agencies following the quake.

  • Virgin Atlantic flight to Jamaica makes emergency landing after engine failure

    Virgin Atlantic flight to Jamaica makes emergency landing after engine failure

    A routine transatlantic journey from London to Jamaica took an unexpected turn on Saturday when a Virgin Atlantic passenger flight encountered an engine failure mid-flight, forcing it to divert to an Irish airport. All passengers and crew walked away unharmed in an outcome that highlighted the effectiveness of standard aviation safety protocols.

    Flight VS165, a wide-body Airbus A330-900neo, pulled away from its gate at London Heathrow on Saturday afternoon carrying 246 passengers and 13 crew members, bound for Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. For nearly three hours, the flight progressed without incident, holding a steady cruising altitude of 34,000 feet over the North Atlantic. It was at this point that the flight crew detected a fault in one of the plane’s two Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines.

    Acting quickly in line with safety procedures, the operating pilots shut down the affected right-side engine as a precautionary measure, choosing to continue flight on the remaining functional engine. After the engine shutdown, the aircraft descended from its cruising altitude to 20,000 feet before altering course to head back toward the European coast. Because Shannon Airport in western Ireland is a well-established primary diversion hub for transatlantic air traffic, air traffic controllers immediately routed the troubled aircraft to this facility.

    Local authorities and airport response teams mobilized rapidly ahead of the plane’s landing, deploying a full emergency contingent that included airport fire brigades, ambulance units, local police forces and municipal fire crews. The jet touched down safely at Shannon at approximately 9:24 pm local time, just five hours after its original departure from London. Emergency response vehicles escorted the plane to its parking spot after landing, and subsequent preliminary inspections ruled out fire or any other immediate hazard to people on the ground or aboard the aircraft.

    Once the aircraft was secured, all passengers and crew disembarked without issue. No injuries related to the incident have been reported by airline officials or emergency responders. As of Sunday, Virgin Atlantic has confirmed it is arranging a replacement aircraft to fly the stranded passengers to their original destination of Montego Bay. Meanwhile, technical engineering teams have launched a full investigation into the root cause of the engine malfunction on the jet, which carries the registration G-VTOM.

  • SIDS urged to strengthen institutions to withstand global shocks

    SIDS urged to strengthen institutions to withstand global shocks

    Against a backdrop of cascading global disruptions ranging from rapid technological change to intensifying climate risk, a top Barbadian government official has outlined a bold new vision for Small Island Developing States (SIDS): abandon siloed, outdated development models and invest in proactive institutional capacity to withstand systemic shocks. The call to action came from Claudette Hope-Greenidge, Permanent Secretary of Barbados’ Ministry of Innovation, Industry, Science and Technology (MIST), during her opening welcome address at the first-ever Possibility Summit, a landmark multidisciplinary forum convened to align scientific advancement with national resilience goals. The high-profile opening assembly drew a roster of key stakeholders, including Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, sitting Cabinet ministers, and representatives from global diplomatic and scientific networks, underscoring the international relevance of the summit’s mission. Hope-Greenidge opened her remarks by stressing that fragmented, discipline-isolated approaches to governance and progress have become obsolete in the 21st century. “Today’s defining global challenges and untapped opportunities simply cannot be addressed through the lens of single academic disciplines or rigid, traditional institutional boundaries,” she told attendees. “Across every continent, nations and communities are navigating unprecedented, interconnected shifts: exponential leaps in digital technology, growing climate-related pressures, rapidly shifting geopolitical alignments, and a sweeping restructuring of the global economic order.” For small island nations like Barbados, Hope-Greenidge emphasized that adapting to these interconnected shifts is not a long-term policy option—it is an urgent immediate priority. She pushed back against the common narrative that small island states are inherently constrained by their geographic size and limited natural resource endowments, noting that Barbados’ historical progress has always stemmed not from physical assets, but from the strength of its foundational national systems. “Our national advancement has always depended on four core pillars: the quality of our public institutions, the depth of our human capital investment, a clear shared national vision, and the ability to plan ahead with strategic foresight,” she explained. That very commitment to proactive, forward-thinking development is what drove the creation of the Possibility Summit, she added. The forum was intentionally structured to close the persistent gap between ambitious national policy goals and on-the-ground implementation in the fields of scientific advancement and national preparedness for global shocks. A core priority of MIST, Hope-Greenidge said, is to reposition research and development (R&D) as a central pillar of Barbados’ national economic planning, rather than sidelining it as a peripheral, non-essential activity. “Our ministry firmly holds that R&D is not a marginal academic exercise—it is a critical building block of national economic strategy, modern governance, and most importantly, the national resilience that will keep us competitive amid global change,” she stated. With leading international experts in attendance—including Professor John Schellnhuber, Director General of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis—Hope-Greenidge called for long-term, cross-sector collaboration spanning public agencies, academic institutions, and civil society organizations to lock in Barbados’ long-term competitive edge as a small island leader in adaptive development. The inaugural summit marks a formal step forward for Barbados’ strategy to position SIDS as proactive actors in global transformation, rather than passive victims of systemic change, by centering interdisciplinary cooperation and institutional investment as the foundation for sustained prosperity.

  • 30 May 1650: Amerindians jumped to their deaths at Sauteurs

    30 May 1650: Amerindians jumped to their deaths at Sauteurs

    On May 30 each year, people pause to reflect on a tragic yet iconic chapter of Caribbean colonial history, marking the 1650 mass suicide of more than 40 Island Caribs at Sauteurs in St Patrick, Grenada. Rather than submit to French invading forces, these Indigenous people chose to jump hundreds of feet from a steep coastal cliff to their deaths, an act of resistance that remains etched in Grenada’s collective memory centuries later.

    The chain of events leading to the tragedy at what would become known as Leapers’ Hill is intertwined with narratives of betrayal, colonial expansion, and cultural genocide that defined European settlement in the Caribbean. The betrayal began with an Island Carib man named Thomas, who fell into conflict with the local community after he was rejected by the daughter of Chief Duquesne. After killing the chief’s son in retaliation, Thomas fled to the nearby French colony of Martinique, where he offered French governor Du Parquet a chance to seize control of Grenada’s Indigenous population by revealing the location of their secret gathering.

    Acting on Thomas’s intelligence, a French force of 60 men launched a surprise night attack on a Carib longhouse perched on the hill overlooking Sauteurs Bay, opening a brutal, deadly assault on the unsuspecting community. Trapped with no path to a fair fight against the armed invaders, around 40 Caribs made the fateful choice to leap from the cliff’s edge instead of surrendering to what they saw as an inglorious life under colonial rule.

    In the wake of the incident, the cliff was named Le Morne des Sauteurs – translated as the Hill of Leapers – a name that would eventually be passed to the nearby coastal town that grew around the bay. Contrary to common historical accounts that claim the massacre wiped out Grenada’s Island Carib population, surviving communities held on to their territory and identity through reduced, marginalized circumstances well into the mid-18th century. Even so, the Leapers’ Hill incident is widely recognized as the pivotal turning point that cemented French control over Grenada, ending effective Indigenous resistance to colonization on the island.

    Today, the site draws visitors from across the globe, who come to confront the gravity of this ultimate act of collective self-sacrifice for freedom. The tragedy has long resonated with creative creators, inspiring poets, filmmakers, musicians, and visual artists to retell the story of the Carib resistance. For centuries, the quiet hill itself stood as a natural monument to the fallen, until 2007 when a formal marble memorial was installed at the site.

    A layer of unintended irony surrounds the new monument: its design incorporates a Christian crucifix, a symbol of the European cultural imperialism the Caribs died to resist. Many have noted that the choice of symbolism makes the memorial a poor fit for honoring the legacy of the people who died defending their home and traditional way of life. Even so, historians point out that public monuments are as much about how contemporary societies process the past as they are about honoring the dead, making the memorial a marker of how far public recognition of this history has come – even as it reveals the work still left to do.

    This article draws from *A-Z of Grenada Heritage*, written by John Angus Martin and originally published by Macmillan Caribbean in 2007, available for purchase through Amazon and local Grenadian retailers.

  • CDB president urges bold action to break Caribbean debt and climate crisis cycle

    CDB president urges bold action to break Caribbean debt and climate crisis cycle

    In a high-stakes keynote address delivered at IDB Invest Sustainability Week 2026 in Barbados on May 26, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) President Daniel M. Best has issued an urgent call for a fundamental rethinking of how Caribbean nations fund development and climate adaptation, warning that inaction will lock the region into a self-reinforcing cycle of soaring debt, sluggish economic growth, and intensifying climate catastrophe.

    Hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank’s investment arm, the annual sustainability gathering provided a critical platform for Best to outline the growing economic and environmental vulnerabilities facing small island Caribbean states. He pushed back against the incremental, piecemeal policy approaches that have dominated regional development efforts to date, calling for coordinated action from national governments, multilateral financial institutions, global investors, and private sector stakeholders to adopt ambitious, long-term strategies that match the scale of the region’s challenges.

    According to Best’s projections, the Caribbean faces a total gross financing gap of roughly $65.2 billion over the coming 10 years. Of that, the region requires an estimated $14 billion annually to upgrade infrastructure and build systemic resistance to climate-driven disasters — yet currently, less than 10% of that required annual funding is actually secured.

    A central pillar of Best’s proposal is a much larger role for the private sector in driving regional transformation. Rather than framing private actors as passive beneficiaries of development aid, he argued that private enterprise is the core engine of job creation, productivity gains, and sustained economic expansion across the Caribbean. “If we are serious about building resilient economies, then the private sector must be enabled, incentivised, and financed to lead that transformation,” Best said during his address.

    Best laid bare the harsh economic realities that have held back the region for decades: crippling sovereign debt loads, constrained government budgets that leave little room for public investment, and repeated external shocks from climate disasters and global economic volatility. He added that even Caribbean nations with consistent, reliable debt repayment histories are still locked out of affordable lending, facing exorbitant borrowing costs that limit their ability to invest in long-term growth.

    This dynamic, he explained, creates a vicious feedback loop: debt servicing payments crowd out critical public and private investment, constrained investment suppresses economic output, and slow growth in turn worsens fiscal vulnerability, sending countries back into deeper debt.

    On the climate front, Best emphasized that climate risk is not a distant threat for the Caribbean — it is a current, existential crisis. Over the past eight years alone, the region has been hit by five Category 5 hurricanes, each causing billions in damage and setting back development gains by years. Rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather events threaten to displace entire communities and wipe out decades of economic progress, he noted.

    To break this cycle, Best highlighted innovative financing models as a critical path forward, pointing to the Multi-Guarantor Debt-for-Resilience Swap as a blueprint for action. This model brings together multiple guarantors to lower sovereign borrowing costs, reduce overall risk, and free up much-needed fiscal space for national governments. Rather than providing generic debt relief, the swap redirects funds that would have gone to debt servicing toward high-priority resilience investments, including public health infrastructure, climate adaptation projects, and disaster preparedness systems.

    “At its heart, this swap is about partnership and choice,” Best explained. “This is not debt relief for its own sake. It is debt transformation — turning liabilities into opportunities, and obligations into investments in people, communities, and futures.”

    Best stressed that no single actor can solve the region’s challenges on its own. Successful scaling of models like the debt-for-resilience swap requires deep collaboration between national governments, multilateral development banks, private insurers, commercial financial institutions, and global impact investors.

    He also outlined the CDB’s ongoing work to expand private sector participation across the region, through blended financing structures, risk guarantees, co-investment partnerships, and targeted entrepreneurship programs that aim to improve the overall investment climate for local and international firms.

    In closing, Best urged regional and international partners to move beyond endless discussion and take decisive, immediate action to address the Caribbean’s challenges. Against a backdrop of ongoing global economic volatility and uncertainty, he emphasized that regional collective action is the only path forward.

    “The global environment is uncertain and volatile. And the reality is clear: no one is coming to rescue us. The responsibility rests with us — our institutions, our partners, and our people — to act collectively, to act boldly, and to act now,” Best said.

  • President Simons onderscheidt Surinaamse wetenschapper Rudi van Els in Brazilië

    President Simons onderscheidt Surinaamse wetenschapper Rudi van Els in Brazilië

    During an official two-day state visit to neighboring Brazil, Suriname’s President Jennifer Simons has bestowed one of the country’s highest distinctions — the Order of the Palm in the rank of Commander — on veteran Surinamese academic Rudi van Els, in recognition of his decades of selfless service advancing bilateral educational and academic ties between the two South American nations. The investiture ceremony was held at the Surinamese Embassy in Brasilia, as Simons marked the 50th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between Suriname and Brazil.

    Van Els, an associate professor and engineering researcher affiliated with the University of Brasília, earned the honor for his extraordinary contributions to nurturing Surinamese academic talent, expanding educational access, and strengthening collaborative research and capacity-building between the two countries. A trailblazer himself, Van Els was part of the very first cohort of Surinamese students that traveled to Brazil for higher education in 1984. He built a decades-long academic career in Brazil, yet never ceased dedicating his knowledge, time and expertise to advancing development opportunities for his home country, entirely pro bono for most of his work.

    In her ceremonial address, President Simons highlighted that Van Els has served as a critical people-to-people bridge between Suriname and Brazil throughout his professional life. Beyond his work in core academic fields including sustainable development, renewable energy, and rural electrification, he was a foundational leader in establishing the SuriBraz Academic Network, which has grown into a leading cross-border platform connecting scholars, institutions and civil society organizations from both nations.

    Simons emphasized that Van Els’ consistent, uncompensated mentorship and support for Surinamese students and educational institutions has made a transformative impact on building Suriname’s human capital. Since 1984, more than 130 Surinamese students have completed higher education programs at Brazilian universities, a pathway that Van Els helped open and sustain through decades of on-the-ground support.

    “Due to these extraordinary, long-standing contributions, the Republic of Suriname finds it more than fitting and well-deserved to extend our special gratitude to you,” Simons told Van Els during the ceremony.

    The event coincided with Simons’ broader official visit to Brazil, which included a bilateral summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The Surinamese leader expressed full satisfaction with the outcomes of the high-level talks, noting that multiple new bilateral cooperation agreements were signed during the visit, spanning a range of priority sectors for both nations.

    “These signed cooperation instruments across diverse areas clearly illustrate the results we have achieved. These successes are the product of our joint, mutual efforts, for which I extend my special thanks,” Simons said. “My visit in this anniversary year, when we mark 50 years of diplomatic relations, is an ideal moment to reflect on our decades of deep cooperation.”

  • More than 3,000 guns, 56 tonnes of drugs seized in Interpol-led operation

    More than 3,000 guns, 56 tonnes of drugs seized in Interpol-led operation

    A sweeping cross-border law enforcement initiative led by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and backed by the Organization of American States (OAS) has delivered landmark results against transnational organized crime, with authorities across 20 nations in Central America, South America and the Caribbean removing thousands of illegal firearms and tens of tons of contraband drugs from circulation. Christened Operation Orca XI, the coordinated crackdown ran from October 15 to November 30, 2025, with Interpol managing global operational coordination and the OAS working to deepen regional collaborative ties. Financial backing for the initiative was provided by the European Union, enabling unified action against interconnected criminal networks operating across the Americas.

    The operation aligns with core security priorities advanced by the OAS under the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials (CIFTA). This framework has recently renewed its focus on targeted criminal investigations into the origin, illegal diversion and trafficking of illegal weapons and related materials, framed as a critical strategy to dismantle transnational criminal groups at their root.

    By the close of the operation, participating law enforcement agencies had recorded 8,701 arrests on charges ranging from weapons possession and drug trafficking to a range of other felony offenses. In addition to the 3,308 seized illegal firearms, authorities confiscated close to 200,000 rounds of unregulated ammunition, $256,025 in untraced cash, and 210 vehicles linked to criminal operations.

    OAS officials emphasized that illicit firearms trafficking in the Western Hemisphere is deeply intertwined with nearly every other form of transnational criminal activity, including drug trafficking, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and cybercrime. Organized criminal syndicates and street gangs that oversee these operations routinely repurpose the same smuggling routes to move multiple types of illicit goods, creating interconnected networks that challenge individual nations’ law enforcement capacities.

    These overlapping criminal links were clearly reflected in the scale of drug seizures from Operation Orca XI. Contraband confiscated included 6.9 metric tons of cocaine, 659,403 harvested coca plants, 9.3 tons of cocaine base paste, 38.5 tons of marijuana, 2 tons of methamphetamine, and 11 kilograms of ketamine.

    OAS Secretary General Albert R. Ramdin framed the operation as a clear demonstration of the power of coordinated hemispheric action. “This is what success looks like when hemispheric coordination and world-class technical and operational capacity join forces: thousands of firearms off the streets, drugs seized and safer communities,” Ramdin said. “Operation Orca XI proves that international cooperation and information sharing get results—and our security frameworks must continue delivering. The OAS stands ready to continue supporting member states with partners like Interpol for the benefit of the Americas.”

    Interpol Secretary General Valdecy Urquiza echoed that assessment, calling Orca XI a watershed milestone in global efforts to counter organized criminal networks. “Interpol’s commitment remains to support law enforcement agencies with the intelligence, tools and coordination they need to stay ahead of these evolving threats,” Urquiza said.

    The operation was planned and executed in close partnership with the Commission of Central American, Mexican, Caribbean, and Colombian Police Chiefs and Directors. The 20 participating nations were Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay, uniting a broad cross-section of the Americas to confront shared security threats.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Delegation Attends Caribbean Climate Finance Workshop in Barbados

    Antigua and Barbuda Delegation Attends Caribbean Climate Finance Workshop in Barbados

    As Small Island Developing States across the Caribbean continue to grapple with worsening climate-driven disasters, a four-person official delegation from Antigua and Barbuda has traveled to Bridgetown, Barbados to take part in a high-stakes regional climate finance workshop. Running from May 28 to 29, 2026 at the Hilton Barbados Resort, the event titled “Prosperity on Our Terms: A Caribbean Agenda for Climate Finance Access and Addressing Loss and Damage” brings together dozens of representatives from climate-vulnerable nations across the Caribbean and the broader Global South.

    Organized by the Climate Vulnerable Forum and the Vulnerable Twenty Group (CVF-V20), the workshop is hosted during Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s current tenure as CVF-V20 president. The Antigua and Barbuda delegation draws expertise from two key government branches: it includes Gita Nicholas and Arry Simon from the Department of Environment under the Ministry of Health and the Environment, alongside Carlon Knight and Sheneé Cornelius from the Ministry of Finance, Corporate Governance and Public-Private Partnerships.

    For low-lying island nations like Antigua and Barbuda, the topics on the workshop’s agenda are not abstract policy discussions — they are urgent, existential priorities. Already, the country faces accelerating risks from tropical cyclones, coastal flooding, and chronic sea-level rise, all of which drain public resources and undermine long-term development. Improved, streamlined access to climate and disaster risk finance is therefore a core policy goal for the Antigua and Barbuda government, making this gathering a critical opportunity for engagement.

    Over the two-day event, delegation members have taken part in targeted technical sessions covering a range of key financing mechanisms designed for vulnerable states. These include deep dives into the CVF-V20 Lifeline Fund, which delivers fast-acting liquidity support to nations immediately after major climate disasters strike. Attendees also explored the Vulnerability to Viability (V2V) Compact, a long-term framework created to tackle the structural financing barriers that hold back climate-vulnerable economies. Additional sessions covered the B20 Development Finance Institution Compact, a new collaboration with the OPEC Fund for International Development, as well as existing global Loss and Damage financing tools: the UN-established Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage and the Global Shield against Climate Risks.

    On the second day of the workshop, May 29, the delegation will join a scheduled field visit to local climate adaptation and recovery project sites across Barbados. Stops include the Barbados Fisheries Division, coastal resilience sites at Paines Bay, and Six Men’s Bay. The on-site visit will give Antigua and Barbuda’s representatives first-hand insight into practical resilience interventions that can be adapted and applied to the country’s own climate planning and development frameworks.