The 15 nations of the Caribbean, an array of islands and coastal nations, experiences drought-like weather every year and can expect droughts to be increasingly frequent and intense due to climate change, says an FAO report. “Agriculture is the most likely sector to be impacted, with serious economic and social consequences,” said the UN agency.
Farmers in the region rely on rainfall to water their crops, so fresh-water supplies will be vital as droughts become more seasonal in nature. A sizable fraction of the populations of Caribbean nations, more than one in six citizens in eight of the countries, is employed in agriculture. Small-scale family farmers are particularly vulnerable to drought, which lowers yields and weakens livestock while driving up food prices for everyone.
The drought of 2009-10 was the worst in 40 years and “served as an alarm bell for the Caribbean region, says FAO, yet “weak governance, lack of finance and poorly coordinated land management” have slowed the creation of an effective system for forecasting and responding to prolonged drought. Disaster preparations in the region traditionally focus on hurricanes. Drought magnified by the El Niño weather pattern damaged crops last year and early this year.