BARBADOS’ BLUEPRINT FOR CLIMATE RESILIENCE

Unpredictable weather events are reshaping the future of small states and island nations. Barbados’ technology-focused, data-driven response to climate change can help strengthen its resilience—and can be adapted for wider use.

This article is sourced from IFC.org /World Bank Group.

Story by Alison Buckholtz. Multimedia by Armando Gallardo and Julia Schmalz.

With a palm-sized notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other, Katrina Chapman surveys a stretch of beach near Bridgetown, Barbados and looks out to the calm, turquoise waters of Pile Bay.  But she’s not just admiring the view.

Chapman, the manager of the Pile Bay Fish Landing facility, is tracking the influx of sargassum—a ropy, brown seaweed that’s smothering coral reefs, snarling the nets of fisherfolk whose income depends on their daily catch, and negatively impacting the landings of flying fish, Barbados’ national dish.  Warming waters and other factors are speeding sargassum’s growth throughout the Caribbean, and Chapman, a third-generation Barbadian fisherwoman, has never seen anything like the influx now rotting on beaches.  She’s worried, she admits. As a small wooden fishing boat returns to shore, she writes down the fishermen’s observations about the sargassum’s spread and direction. Then, back at Pile Bay’s small processing facility, she turns to the fish, documenting in her notebook the species, weight, and size of each boat’s haul, along with where and how the fish were caught.

This will be one of the final weeks Chapman uses paper and pencil to document Pile Bay’s busy days because  digital tablets are en route to the facility. The tablets are tools to support the new DigiFish initiative, a collaborative program between government, civil society, and the private sector to capture and digitize data. The data collection project aims to improve efficiency, facilitate entry into new markets, integrate generational knowledge, and navigate the consequences of global warming.  

But in Barbados, global warming is not just a problem for the fishing industry.  The country’s  geographical location leaves it and its people vulnerable to the varied consequences of the climate crisis. Unpredictable weather events, coastal erosion, soil depletion, and groundwater instability all add up to what Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley calls an existential threat.

For Barbados and other coastal nations and cities, “Our very survival is at stake,” says Mottley. “This is why we must act decisively and act now. The challenges we face are daunting, so we are meeting them head-on, pairing bold policies with practical, community-based measures that are already helping us move toward our climate targets. The time is now to do even more.”

To confront this challenge, the government of Barbados launched Roofs to Reefs, a national strategy to build resilience to climate change and unpredictable weather-related events. Digitization, and the use of data to identify hazards and set targets, is a key element of that response.  The delivery of tablets on its way to Katrina Chapman is part of technology-focused, data-driven approach to fortifying infrastructure, promoting renewable energy, and cultivating green jobs. 

“Without technology and data that allow us to set climate resilience targets, we don’t have a chance at sustainability,” says Shantal Munro-Knight, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Climate Resilience.  “When we can deploy resources that match the data we have about vulnerability, we can be systematic rather than scattershot…and protect our environment as well as the communities that need [help] most.”

“The scope and impact of the climate challenge demands leadership,” says Makhtar Diop, IFC Managing Director. “Barbados’ Roofs to Reefs program is innovative and practical, and has the potential to be adapted across the Caribbean and other vulnerable island nations.”