Caribbean SIDS : Key Vulnerabilities and Challenges
Charisse Griffiths-Charles
Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) share many of the characteristics of other SIDS globally that render them vulnerable such as small size, limited useable space, economic dependence on international markets, and vulnerability to climate change impacts, particularly sea level rise. There are, however, particular land related characteristics that are present in Caribbean SIDS that exacerbate their vulnerabilities. The limited useable space as a result of the volcanic geomorphology of many of the islands, for example, further reduces the availability and access to land for marginalised sectors of the society. Many of the islands have narrow coastal areas suitable for occupation and use, and steeply rising interiors that, when of necessity occupied make the land and therefore the occupants and downstream communities susceptible to landslides and floods. The countries are also made vulnerable as a result of the insecurity of tenure resulting from the large percentage of informal tenure in either squatting or communal family land. The informality affects disaster management as recovery, redevelopment, and reinstatement of land tenure is rendered difficult post-disaster.
Only personal, non-commercial use of this document is allowed.