Caribbean officials have warned that the region is on course for increasingly devastating climate impacts, with global temperatures edging towards a three-degree Celsius rise, as they called for immediate, practical action to protect vulnerable communities at a high-level workshop in Barbados this week.
In issuing a stark warning, the officials, gathered here for the Santiago Network Regional Workshop, said climate change has transitioned from a future threat to a “lived reality” for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The workshop, held at the Caribbean Development Bank in Wildey, focused on delivering technical assistance to the Caribbean and other vulnerable regions, and featured keynote speeches from the Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw, who is Minister of the Environment, National Beautification and Fisheries, and CDB vice president Dr Isaac Solomon.
Bradshaw highlighted a concerning shift in global climate ambition, noting that resources are being reallocated even as reports show the world is veering towards a three-degree temperature increase.
“The world is not on track to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C,” the deputy prime minister said. “Instead, we are heading closer to a three-degree increase, an outcome with potentially devastating consequences, particularly for vulnerable regions. For the Caribbean, this is not an abstract threat. It is a lived reality.”
Reflecting on Barbados’s 2035 national strategy, the minister emphasised that the region must move beyond passive advocacy to innovative protection.
“As our Prime Minister Mottley has said repeatedly, we will not be passive in the face of climate change. We will not wait for others to act. We will lead, we will innovate, and we will protect our people. Our region must not only build resilience, we must become a model of resilience.”
The environment minister detailed specific targets, including the goal for 85 per cent of Barbadian housing to withstand a Category 3 hurricane by 2030 and the continued expansion of the Caribbean’s largest electric bus fleet.
Dr Solomon reinforced the importance of the Santiago Network in bridging the gap between global commitments and national implementation. He argued that while funding is essential, it must be supported by robust institutional frameworks.
“Loss and damage is not a future risk. It is a present and escalating reality,” Dr Solomon said. “Extreme weather events, sea level rise, flooding, droughts, and heat stress impose recurrent human, social, and economic costs that strain public finances and erode development gains.”
Solomon stressed that the Santiago Network’s role is to provide demand-driven technical assistance that makes climate action “bankable”.
“Addressing loss and damage is not only about post disaster response. It is about institutional readiness, strengthening data systems, legal frameworks, inter-agency coordination, and decision-making processes before disasters occur. Finance alone is insufficient without strong systems, data, and institutions.”
He said the workshop focused on three priority outcomes: the country-driven identification of needs, better institutional coordination to reduce duplication of efforts, and the linking of technical assistance directly to concessional finance.
Both leaders urged participants to ensure the workshop results in tangible benefits for Caribbean communities, moving from the policy deliberations of COP summits to active, on-the-ground protection for future generations.
(EJ)
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