Complexity of Caribbean climate crisis necessitates data-based response

SANTIAGO, CMC – Delegates attending a subregional seminar in Chile say the complexity of the climate crisis in the Caribbean necessitates a data-based response on global, regional, national and local levels. 

The event was organised by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Representatives of national statistics offices and the environment ministries of Caribbean countries, as well as international specialists, stressed the urgency of taking concrete actions that would enable the Caribbean region to steadily advance towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

ECLAC said participants emphasised that Caribbean countries not only need high-quality data to monitor, report and analyse changes in the climate, but they also need data to “inform and accelerate mitigation and adaptation actions”. 

“In response to this need, the experts highlighted that several countries in the region are already working to strengthen the production and use of quality data on climate change to inform decision-making through the development of statistical compendiums on the environment and climate change and the implementation of data platforms,” ECLAC said. 

However, it warned that despite these efforts, this development is sporadic and uneven, and critical challenges continue to exist for maintaining and developing current initiatives. 

ECLAC said the experts specified that some of the region's most pressing problems are the lack of coordination within national statistical systems and with the broader data ecosystem; the protocols established for exchanging data; and the development of strategic capacities for data on climate change. 

Mario Cimoli, ECLAC's acting executive secretary, stressed the urgency of putting the situation of Caribbean countries at the center of the regional and global agenda. 

“Caribbean countries are suffering the effects of climate change, but they also face difficulties in obtaining support instruments to mitigate and confront this problem, along with difficult access to financing for development,” he said. “They face a huge asymmetry.” 

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