The State of the Caribbean Climate Report, published by the Climate Studies Group at The UWI's Mona Campus in April 2020, presents the stark Caribbean climate realities, such as the increasing severity and frequency of tropical storms; the threat posed by climate change to the region's development goals; and the need to account for climate in the pursuit of these goals.
The report, which provides critical analysis and discussion on Caribbean climate, variability and trends, and projections, was produced with grant funding from the ACP-EU-CDB Natural Disaster Risk Management in CARIFORUM Countries programme (NDRM), which is in turn funded by the European Union and managed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). It is geared towards increasing decision-makers' basic understanding of climate variability and change, facilitating evidence- based planning and policy, and implementing prioritised actions tailored to respond to climatic threats as well as sector-specific sensitivity contexts.
The publication is one of two components of a project led by the Climate Studies Group at The UWI's Mona Campus with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology as a key project partner and contributor along with the Instituto de Meteorologia in Cuba.
The UWI continued its active academic and scientific contributions with a record nine academics serving the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in various capacities. Its members served on three international working groups to produce a three-volume global assessment report, known as "the sixth report" and "three special reports" on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL). The academics are Professor Michelle Mycoo (coordinating lead author on a chapter on small islands); Dr. Tannecia Stephenson; Dr. Donovan Campbell; Dr. Adrian Spence; Professor Michael Taylor; Professor Noureddine Benkeblia; Dr. Michael Sutherland; Dr. Aidan Farrell; and Professor John Agard. In August and September 2019, both the second and third special reports were published—Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report, the Summary for Policymakers and Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, while the first special report, Global Warming of 1.5°C, was approved and released in September 2018.
The UWI's Professor Michael Taylor was among an internationally respected group of scientists urgently calling on world leaders to accelerate efforts to tackle climate change. The scientists and authors of a study published in a September 2019 edition of Science pointed out that almost every aspect of the planet's environment and ecology is undergoing changes in response to climate change—some of which are profound, if not catastrophic for the future. The Science study also suggested that reducing the magnitude of climate change is a good investment. Over the next few decades, acting to reduce climate change is expected to cost much less than the damage otherwise inflicted by climate change on people, infrastructure, and ecosystems. The authors reemphasized the importance of the year 2020 in terms of climate action and the opportunity to strengthen emission reduction pledges in line with the Paris Agreement of 2015, concluding that "Tackling climate change is a tall order. However, there is no alternative from the perspective of human well-being and too much at stake not to act urgently on this issue."
Our climate action work was featured in a multi- university collaborative project with the International Association of Universities (IAU) and the BBC Global News. Its mini-documentary, entitled Tackling the Effects of Climate Change, formed part of a series called Aiming Higher, which premiered at the IAU's International Conference in Puebla, Mexico in November 2019 and showcases how universities are instrumental to the development of sustainable and democratic societies, shaping minds, promoting diversity, ethical leadership and social responsibility. Thirty-four IAU member institutions from all five continents took part in the ambitious project.
Following on the 2019 selection by the International Association of Universities (IAU), an affiliate body and higher education think tank for UNESCO as its global leader in the mobilisation of higher education and research for sustainable development, The UWI was ranked among the top 200 universities in Times Higher Education's Impact Rankings 2020 for its research, outreach and stewardship of the SDGs, including its work on SDG13: Climate Action.
For almost 10 years, the Caribbean region has been experiencing massive influxes of the sargassum seaweed which negatively impacts key social and economic sectors such as fisheries and tourism. The UWI in its strategic mission to develop a culture of resilience planning for the Caribbean, has invested significant resources over the years in tackling the sargassum challenge.
Through its Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCM), the university led a forum to facilitate collaboration, knowledge sharing and best practices to tackle the threat with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It also held discussions with the United Nations (UN). Outcomes from the 2019 forum discussions identified gaps and initiatives to foster synergies towards a solution. Presentations were made by Professor Mona Webber, Director of The UWI's Centre for Marine Sciences and Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory; Andres Bisono Leon and Luke Grey from MIT; Precision Engineering Research Group; and Marion Sutton, Oceanographer and Project Manager from Collecte Localisation Satellites in France. Discussions with the UN followed, which led to agreement to focus on improving monitoring to predict sargassum landing and development of a monitoring system available via a mobile app, which would allow the general public, including affected groups such as fisher folk, to be able to better prepare for any landings of this seaweed.
The issue of sargassum was also featured during the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre's Summit of the Americas from October 9 to 10, 2019, hosted at The UWI Regional Headquarters in Jamaica. The Summit examined and showcased the experience, best practices, and lessons learnt from tourism climatic resilience initiatives around the world.
In October 2019, The UWI became the newest member of the Global Resilience Research Network (GRRN), a group of over 30 leading universities and institutes committed to resilience research. The GRRN falls within the ambit of the Global Resilience Institute (GRI), which informs on the development of new tools and applications to advance resilience best practices.
The UWI contributes technical expertise in areas such as sustainability, resilience, and disaster risk reduction. The University is a key contributor to the GRRN's Island Resilience Initiative (IRI), developing an action plan for a US-Caribbean Resilience Partnership.
Under the theme, "Tourism Resilience for Sustainable Development", the second Tourism Resilience Summit of the Americas was hosted on October 9 and 10 at Regional Headquarters by the Ministry of Tourism, Jamaica with the objectives to examine and highlight the lessons learnt from tourism climatic resilience initiatives along with emerging issues surrounding tourism climatic resilience and sustainable development.
Executive Director of The UWI Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, which spearheaded the event, Professor Lloyd Waller, highlighted that "the Resilience Summit of the Americas will be a game changer in terms of the exchange of ideas on resilience and resilience building".
It is expected that the papers and report from the summit will help to shape policy and strategic frameworks globally, specifically as it relates to enhancing the resilience of worldwide destinations.
Commenting, the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett said, "These presentations and other expected outcomes of the summit will contribute to policy formulation and the development of strategic frameworks, specifically as it relates to building resilience of tourism destinations worldwide. I look forward to the upcoming publication of the 'Journal of Tourism Resilience'which will include some of the papers from this meeting."
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