Advancing drought risk management in the Caribbean : a multi-sectoral perspective

Abstract

The Caribbean is entering a new phase of impacts-based research and product development that goes beyond meteorological forecasting of the drought hazard alone, but extends into forecasting the cascade of potential climate-sensitive outcomes that may occur due to drought. The Caribbean Climate Impacts Database (CID), an open-source geospatial inventory that archives sector-based impacts from various climate phenomena, is triggering research on the relationships between climate and its impacts, including drought impacts. This research is foundational to the Caribbean’s thrust towards the provision and mainstreaming of sector-specific impacts-based forecasting information for drought. This contribution to the GAR Special Report on Drought 2021 assesses a multi-sectoral perspective on advancing drought risk management in the Caribbean. Drought early warning is one of the evolving climate risk management success stories in the Caribbean.