The Caribbean region has been historically hard-hit by hurricanes, with climate change making it increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters. From 1998 to 2020, climate-related events claimed over 312 000 lives and affected about 277 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean. The risks from sea-level rise, flooding, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion are growing, exacerbated by the degradation of crucial coastal ecosystems like mangroves, hard coral and seagrasses which serve as a natural defences against these threats.
These ecosystems not only act as natural buffers but also provide essential services such as blue carbon sequestration, coastal erosion mitigation, runoff filtration and prevention of saltwater intrusion that leads to soil degradation. Today, local experts and communities are motivated to rectify past damages and work alongside nature to enhance ecosystem resilience and associated livelihoods.
The new project Resilient Coasts – Caribbean Sea, sponsored by the Swedish Postcode Foundation, will utilize a living lab approach to explore how interventions can enhance local livelihoods and identify viable business cases and funding mechanisms for nature-based solutions.
Three interconnected themes will be in focus:
“There is an enormous knowledge bank locally, and managing agencies in all countries are both aware and committed to safeguarding the environment. However, knowledge and commitment, require financial mechanisms to turn into effective long-term governance structures. Restoration, protection, and environmental stewardship needs to be profitable in terms of net benefits if we are to combat deforestation and other processes jeopardizing critical ecosystems to adapt to climate change. Our ambition is to connect the knowledge – finance – governance dots and together with our partners and local communities bring existing efforts to a level where prioritizing ecosystems is something people benefit from materially and financially, and not only symbolically.” – Barquet continued.
The project includes eight countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Aruba, Jamaica, Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago. Over the course of two and a half years, local communities, government agencies, research organizations, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations will collaborate on solutions that build on existing efforts and establish a sustainable community of practice.
The partnership recently kicked off with a launch event in Santa Marta, Colombia, where the large Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta wetland could potentially serve as one of two pilot sites. Here, local communities will be involved in the protection of mangrove ecosystems. The pilots may also include “constructed wetlands” that contribute to wastewater treatment and decontamination of water bodies.
Local communities and businesses are crucial to the project’s success, co-creating interventions that preserve ecosystems while generating jobs and incomes. Identifying and overcoming barriers such as regulations, financial constraints or insufficient capacity are part of the continuous dialogue among NGOs, local experts, financial institutions, businesses and decision-makers.
The living lab approach facilitates active exploration of plausible alternatives within the specific regional context, while the insights gained are also likely to be highly relevant in other parts of the world.