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1. Stormclouds and Solutions: Anticipating and Preparing for Climate Change and Security Risks in the Caribbean

Author:
Shiloh Fetzek and Oliver Leighton-Barrett
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
A region long-tested by both extreme weather events and illicit economic activity, the Caribbean has developed abundant expertise in climate science and disaster resilience. It also has many underlying governance and security challenges which may amplify each other as climate impacts intensify. In this policy brief authors Shiloh Fetzek and Lt. Commander US Navy (ret.) Oliver Leighton-Barrett identify the key regional security risks exacerbated by climate change, which include: 1. economic contraction, violence and criminal activity; 2. disaster impacts and political repercussions; 3. food and water insecurity, damage to livelihoods and social unrest; and 4. Central and South American security deterioration impacting on the Caribbean. Anticipating and addressing these challenges by integrating security cooperation and climate resilience initiatives could support existing risk management structures and advance long-term economic and socio-political stability in the Caribbean.
Topic:
Security, Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Economy, and Resilience
Political Geography:
South America, Central America, and Caribbean

2. Caribbean Economies and the Year Ahead 2018

Author:
Scott MacDonald
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Abstract:
Caribbean economies face 2018 with mixed prospects. While overall trends are positive for most countries, a number of economies are still struggling from the damage sustained during last year’s hurricane season. The positive forces at work are a stronger global economic expansion, improving prospects for tourism, development of the oil industry in the Guiana Shield, and a strengthening in commodity prices. On the negative side are the costs of reconstruction, ongoing fiscal pressures in a handful of states, and the increasing negative consequences of an imploding Venezuela. Significant questions continue to exist as to U.S. policy in the region, spillover of Brexit, Chinese Caribbean policy, and a rising level of Russian engagement in some countries. In all of this, the Caribbean remains vulnerable to events external to the region and increasingly needs to focus on digital technology and how it can be applied to make local economies more competitive. During much of 2017, growth prospects were generally positive, helped along by a stronger expansion in the advanced economies, stabilization in commodity prices, and a higher level of remittances from the Caribbean diaspora. The Dominican Republic led the way, though at a slower pace than the year prior due to efforts to reduce the fiscal deficit. Better tourist numbers also lifted growth prospects in much of the Eastern Caribbean and Jamaica. The laggards were Puerto Rico (with a $72 billion debt crisis), the U.S. Virgin Islands (dealing with acute fiscal pressures), Barbados (struggling with deteriorating public finances and reduced capital market access), and commodity exporters Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. While most Caribbean countries and dependencies were fortunate to avoid massive destruction during the 2017 hurricane season, storms Irma and Maria brought considerable disruption to Barbuda, Dominica, St. Martin (both the French and Dutch sides), the British Virgin Islands, and U.S. Virgins Islands. Category 5 Hurricane Maria in September was the worst natural disaster on record in Dominica and certainly ranks in the top 10 for Puerto Rico. Indeed, both Dominica and Puerto Rico were left effectively without economies.
Topic:
Oil, Natural Disasters, Tourism, Digital Economy, and Global Political Economy
Political Geography:
Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Barbados, and Puerto Rico

3. Climate Change Resilience: The case of Haiti

Author:
Marc J. Cohen and Bhawan Singh
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Haiti's climate has changed over the past four decades. Annual mean temperatures have risen, and the rainy season now begins up to three months later than usual. Projections of future climate change indicate that annual mean temperatures will continue to rise over the course of the 21st century. Rainfall variability is also expected to increase, meaning more extreme droughts in the dry season and more intense rainfall in the wet season. Sea-level rise and increased storm surges are also expected. The coastal plains are increasingly subject to the influx of saltwater, and as ocean surges lead to saltier soils, farmers can no longer cultivate them. These factors will exacerbate current serious problems of flooding and erosion in coastal areas that lie in the direct path of tropical storms and hurricanes. In the absence of significant adaptation efforts, these dynamics will in turn have severe impacts on water resources, land, agriculture, and forests. Annual population growth of 1.5 per cent means over 11 million mouths to feed by 2020 and additional pressure on agricultural resources.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Poverty, Natural Disasters, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Haiti

4. Balancing Foreign Direct Investments: Disaster Risks and Development in Haiti

Author:
Laurent Lamothe
Publication Date:
04-2013
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Abstract:
This World Leaders Forum program features an address by Laurent Lamothe, Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti, titled Balancing Foreign Direct Investments: Disaster Risks and Development in Haiti, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Natural Disasters, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Haiti

5. Putting the pieces together: Haiti's path to a working state

Author:
Blanca Antonini
Publication Date:
09-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
The earthquake of 2010 brutally exposed the vulnerabilities of Haiti's people, as well as confronting an already weakly governed country with massive humanitarian and logistical dilemmas. While progress has been made towards reconstruction, the underlying fragility of the country remains. Even as certain donors reconsider their aid to the country, Haiti continues to suffer from economic dependence, environmental risk, an institutional vacuum, a heavily fragmented political landscape, and a continuing cycle of poverty and violence.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Natural Disasters
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Haiti

6. President Martelly – call on Haiti's youth!

Author:
Henriette Lunde
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Half a year has passed since Michel Martelly was inaugurated as the new president of Haiti, and so far the earthquake-devastated country has seen little progress from his presidency. The reconstruction process is slow, and frustration and disgruntlement are growing among the population. Important time was wasted during the five months it took to appoint a new prime minister and put a new government in place. Martelly's mandate was largely given to him by the country's youth, who have high expectations of him. Integrating youth into the reconstruction process is important for reasons of political stability, but young people also represent the country's most important resource per se by constituting a large and – relative to their parents – better-educated part of the workforce. To battle the image of Haiti as a weak state in a land of strong NGOs, the Haitian state needs to assert itself and take on the responsibility of providing services to its citizens. Recruiting young people on a large scale for public sector employment in basic service provision and establishing a national youth civic service corps would strengthen the position of the state and let youth participate in the reconstruction process in a meaningful way. However, a civic service corps would demand high levels of co-ordination and transparency to avoid becoming an empty institution reinforcing patrimonial structures. The youth who brought Martelly to power represent a great potential asset for the country and need to be given the place in the reconstruction process that they have been promised.
Topic:
Democratization, Natural Disasters, Fragile/Failed State, and Youth Culture
Political Geography:
Caribbean and Haiti

7. Haiti Progress Report: January–December 2011

Author:
Lucy Davies
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Even before the earthquake struck on January 12, 2010, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the world. In Port-au-Prince, 86 percent of the city\'s two million residents lived in densely-populated slums with scarce access to clean water and sanitation facilities. The scale of the disaster, combined with the poverty and lack of infrastructure that already existed, made the relief operation one of the most challenging that Oxfam has ever undertaken.
Topic:
Humanitarian Aid, Natural Disasters, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:
Caribbean

8. Haiti - The Slow Road to Reconstruction: Two years after the earthquake

Author:
Marc Cohen
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January 2010 resulted in one of the largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies in history. In response, humanitarian agencies undertook one of the biggest and most challenging operations ever, mainly in a densely urbanized area.
Topic:
Economics, Health, and Natural Disasters
Political Geography:
Caribbean

9. Haiti: Turning the Page?

Author:
Robert Maguire
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Progress toward a better Haiti during President Michel Martelly's first year was undermined by a multitude of political crises.Confirmation of a new prime minister by Haiti's parliament provides an opportunity to rectify previous missteps and begin moving Haiti toward a peaceful and prosperous future. An important indicator of the new prime minister's agenda for improving conditions among Haiti's impoverished majority will be the success of new social programs.Increased foreign direct investment and augmented domestic revenue—the latter linked to an anti-corruption campaign—are important components of the new prime minister's strategy to revitalize Haiti's economy and society.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Natural Disasters, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Caribbean

10. Time's Bitter Flood: Trends in the number of reported natural disasters

Author:
Steve Jennings
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This report analyses the number of reported disasters in those regions where the majority of the world's poor and vulnerable people live: sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. It presents analysis of the trends in the number of reported disasters, assesses what country-level factors influence the reported number of disasters, and compares the findings with independent published studies.
Topic:
Poverty and Natural Disasters
Political Geography:
Africa, South Asia, and Caribbean