International Collaborative Co-Development in the U.S Virgin Islands to Advance and Scale Adaptation and Resilience Efforts in the Caribbean Region

Background

As the effects of a changing climate unfold, the overall infrastructure and socio-economic fragility of Caribbean island nations and neighboring U.S. territories translates into a growing risk for the population that will have diminishing access to the essential services it needs.  The result will be higher mortality rates, more severe mental and physical health issues, and potentially mass migration.

Given the existential threat that climate change poses to many islands in the Caribbean and elsewhere, they need to start developing and implementing climate adaptation measures right away. The direct involvement of the community to include those who have been historically disadvantaged is essential if these measures are to be effective and sustainable.

Proposed Project Community

The project team proposes to work with communities in the island of St. Thomas, one of three main islands that make up the USVI (the other two being  St. John and St. Croix). St. Thomas has directly experienced the catastrophic impacts from extreme weather events, including by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, but has also been affected by other climate events that are likely to be more intense in the future such as drought, rainstorms, sea-level rise, etc.

4 Phases of the project:

1. Background data analysis and structured interviews with island community stakeholders to better understand their current climate adaptation landscape and to assess their climate adaptation priorities through the development of a resilience baseline assessment.
2. A collaborative planning session to engage in co-learning with the community on: (a) developing climate adaptation pathways to respond to what the community identifies as their needs to overcome barriers to adaptation; and (b) to establish a method for community members and outside agencies/organizations to successfully engage and collaborate with each other on implementing climate adaptation actions.
3. A hybrid implementation clinic to provide the community with a sense of agency and an opportunity to access external partners who can potentially help to translate community aspirations into outcomes.
4. Reporting and sharing key findings beyond USVI that catalyzes and guides climate adaptation efforts in other island nations across the Caribbean region.

Proposed Project Goals

This project will engage a diverse group of community members living in the island of St. Thomas via a variety of participatory methods to better understand their current adaptation and resilience needs, goals, and barriers and then co-develop a set of actionable, climate adaptation pathways for how the island can increase community resilience. The ultimate goal is not only to build the capacity of the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands to address its own resilience needs, but to inform and advance climate adaptation and resilience planning for islands across the Caribbean region.