Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Caribbean Development Trends

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agribusiness
    • Antigua and Barbuda
    • Barbados
    • BehaviorChange
    • Belize
    • Bermuda
    • biodiversity
    • Blockchain
    • Caribbean
    • Caribbean Culture and Media
    • Climate Change
    • Creative Economy
    • Crime Prevention and Citizen Security
    • Data and Knowledge
    • De-risking
    • Dominica
    • Dutch
    • Early Childhood Development
    • Economic Growth
    • Education Policy
    • energy
    • entrepreneurship
    • Environmental and Climate Change
    • Events
    • Extractives
    • Finance
    • Fiscal Rules
    • gender
    • Governance and Regulatory Policy Reforms
    • Grenada
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Health
    • Health Policy
    • Hurricane
    • Hurricane Irma
    • infrastructure
    • Innovation and change
    • Intellectual Property
    • IWD
    • Jamaica
    • JumpCaribbean
    • Labor
    • Labour Markets
    • MOOC
    • Music
    • Natural Disasters
    • Nurturing Institutions
    • OECS
    • Podcast
    • Poverty
    • Private Sector and Entrepreneurship
    • Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • Saint Lucia
    • Saint Vincent and Grenadines
    • skills
    • Sports for Development
    • Suriname
    • Technology
    • The Bahamas
    • The Blue Economy
    • Transportation
    • Tourism
    • Trinidad and Tobago
    • Uncategorized
    • VAWG
    • Webinar
    • women
    • Women for Change
    • youth
  • Country Offices
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Press Releases
    • Bahamas
    • Barbados
    • Guyana
    • Jamaica
    • Suriname
    • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Authors

Turning Caribbean Islands into “Climate Smart Islands”

July 31, 2015 by anaitee Leave a Comment


 

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Author, dfaulder

 

As a climate change adaptation consultant living and working in a small island developing State like Jamaica, I would like to reflect about some particular challenges that SIDS are facing today when it comes to sustainable development.

The truth is that small islands by no means are facing small problems. In order for SIDS to follow the pathway to sustainable development as it was agreed last year during the United Nations Third International Conference in Apia, Samoa, they would need to start by transforming and diversifying their energy sector. The economic impact of oil imports is taking a huge toll on everybody’s pocket. Jamaica is no exception to this reality; the country’s expenditure on oil imports represents close to 30% of its GDP and therefore posing a huge burden in terms of its dependency from foreign energy, something that has deep implications both in terms of dependency and energy security.

However, by transforming the energy sector we are not only talking about just increasing renewable energy generation, which of course is a very reasonable option but, let’s be honest, it is not going to happen tomorrow. It is also about changing consumption habits, improve efficiency, take a cross-sectoral approach and start thinking “efficiently”.

That is why I am so thrilled by the concept of “Smart Islands”; the idea is to utilize pilot islands such as Caye Caulker in Belize, Harbour Island in the Bahamas and Tobago in Trinidad & Tobago, as platforms to test and demonstrate ways of transitioning to a low carbon and climate resilient development pathway. In order to do this, islands would need to implement interventions that include climate resilient measures in sectors such as energy, water, waste treatment, tourism, fisheries, transport, and infrastructure, among others. The IDB in partnership with the Carbon War Room (CWR) is currently developing a “Caribbean Climate Smart Program” to examine priority sectors in which low carbon and climate resilient measures can be implemented and once tested, the idea is to scale up this comprehensive approach on a regional level to different islands of the Caribbean.

We need to “smarten” our islands and minimize the impending effects of climate change by taking aggressive yet sustainable  measures in all sectors and at all levels. It is now the time to think outside the box, and as world recognized genius Albert Einstein once said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

To learn more about the Carbon War Room visit: www.carbonwarroom.com

 

 

Follow us on Twitter: @IDB_CarDevTrend


Filed Under: Climate Change & Environment, Economy & Investment Tagged With: Bahamas, Belize, Carbon War Room, Caribbean Climate Smart Program, Caye Caulker, Climate change, climate smart, efficiency, Harbour Island, islands, Smart Islands, sustainable, sustainable development, Tobago

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Caribbean Dev Trends

We provide unique and timely insights on the Caribbean and its political, social, and economic development. At the IDB, we strive to improve lives in the Caribbean by creating vibrant and resilient economies where people are safe, productive and happy.

Similar posts

  • Resilience Starts At Home: How can Barbadians take the fight to climate change?
  • Developing Geothermal Power in Small Islands Developing States
  • Time for Resilience: Announcing the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator
  • Jamaica and COP21: Why does it matter?
  • The IDB partners with the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator to build the first climate-smart zone

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2025 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube