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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI13042157/00001
Notes
- Summary:
- This is a short policy paper discussing the factors increasing drought risk throughout the Caribbean, the early warning system in operation to address this risk, and the lessons learned from the major drought of 2009-2010. This document is intended to assist national governments throughout the Caribbean basin in developing strategies and policies to adapt to this growing threat and one of its major underlying causes, climate change. The document begins by outlining some significant characteristics that make the nations of the Caribbean particularly susceptible to drought conditions. Of primary concern is that most of these small island economies are heavily dependent on industries, such as agriculture and tourism, which require weather that is relatively stable and predictable. With only two seasons, wet and dry, often there are long stretches of the year where pressures on available water are particularly high. This is especially true during the peak tourist season, which generally coincide with some of the driest months of the year, when the tourism sector in countries like Jamaica utilize nearly 10 times more water than the local population. These tensions are likely to grow as it is expected that precipitation will decrease by 20 to 30% within the next century, potentially leading to about $4 million USD in annual economic loss. In the next segment of the document, the authors discuss the impact of the Caribbean drought that began in October of 2009 and ended in April/May of 2010. The drought was responsible for water rationing, as much as 30% in lost crops in some countries, dramatic increases in prices for food and water, significant decreases in hydropower production, and the prevalence of bush fires throughout the region. In the concluding section of the document, the authors present a number of reforms to the existing Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network (CDPMN) to move it away from being merely a reactive instrument towards increasing its predictive capacity so as to trigger preventative or mitigating actions. These reforms include improving rainfall-forecasting instruments, incorporating agricultural and hydrological indicators in drought monitoring, and aligning rainfall measures with their impacts in specific country contexts. The authors also recommend a number of adaptive strategies, such as the establishment of an Integrated Water Resource Management framework, development of national drought management plans, regulations that apply during drought conditions, and drought insurance to limit economic losses. ( English )
- Subject:
- Early Warning ( English )
- Citation/Reference:
- Farrell, D., Trotman, A., Cox, C. (2011). Drought early warning and risk reduction: a case study of the Caribbean drought of 2009-2010. Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
- General Note:
- Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2011: Revealing Risk, Redefining Development. Essay from Chapter 3.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.
- Resource Identifier:
- FI13042157
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