Resilient Coastal Zones and Communities in the Caribbean Region

Island and coastal communities are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, such as more frequent and severe storms, flooding, and rising sea levels. The Caribbean is home to a large number of small, and particularly vulnerable, countries and island nations. Analyses from the International Monetary Fund indicate that these nations have up to seven times greater risk of being affected by natural disasters than larger states, and suffer up to six times greater damage. The coastal ecosystems act as a first line of defense to protect coastal communities against erosion, wave-related flooding, and rising seas. Nature’s own defense mechanisms, such as mangroves, seagrass beds, and coral reefs, significantly reduce the energy of the waves and act as natural breakwaters. The unique built-in functions of coastal ecosystems can thus serve as so-called nature-based solutions to climate-related challenges. However, a majority of these important ecosystems along the Caribbean coasts have disappeared in just a few decades.

In this project, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) aims to contribute to the development of holistic and scalable methods and financing models for nature-based solutions; restoration of urgent coastal ecosystems; and more resilient coastal communities in the Caribbean.

The project is supported with 5 500 000 SEK.

The project is part of The Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation’s initiative “Coastal Ecosystems”, which aims to contribute to the biodiversity of coastal ecosystems and their ability to protect against the negative effects of climate change along the coasts.