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This paper presents an innovative approach to addressing critical global challenges in long-term energy planning for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The paper proposes and tests an international enabling environment, a delivery ecosystem, and a community of practice. These components are integrated into workflows that yield four self-sustaining capacity-development outcomes. Planning long-term energy strategies in LMICs is particularly challenging due to limited national agency and poor international coordination. While outsourcing energy planning to foreign experts may appear to be a viable solution, it can lead to a reduction in government agency (the ability of a government to make its own informed analysis and decisions). Additionally, studies commissioned by external experts may have conflicting terms of reference, and a lack of familiarity with local conditions can result in misrepresentations of on-the-ground realities. It is argued here that enhancing national agency and analytical capacity can improve coordination and lead to more robust planning across line ministries and technical assistance (TA) providers. Moreover, the prevailing consulting model hampers the release and accessibility of underlying analytics, making it difficult to retrieve, reuse, and reconstruct consultant outputs. The absence of interoperability among outputs from various consultants hinders the ability to combine and audit the insights they provide. To overcome these challenges, five strategic principles for energy planning in LMICs have been introduced and developed in collaboration with 21 international and research organizations, including the AfDB, IEA, IRENA, IAEA, UNDP, UNECA, the World Bank, and WRI. These principles prioritize national ownership, coherence and inclusivity, capacity, robustness, transparency and accessibility. In this enabling environment, a unique delivery ecosystem consisting of knowledge products and activities is established. The paper focuses on two key knowledge products as examples of this ecosystem: the open-source energy modeling system (OSeMOSYS) and the power system flexibility tool (IRENA FlexTool). These ecosystem elements are designed to meet user-friendliness, retrievability, reusability, reconstructability, repeatability, interoperability, and audibility (U4RIA) goals. To ensure the sustainability of this ecosystem, OpTIMUS is introduced—a community of practice dedicated to maintaining, supporting, expanding, and nurturing the elements within the ecosystem. Among other ecosystem elements, training and research initiatives are introduced, namely the Energy Modelling Platform for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific as well as the ICTP Joint Summer School on Modelling Tools for Sustainable Development. Once deployed via workflows, the preliminary outcomes of these capacity-development learning pathways show promise. Further investigation is necessary to evaluate their long-term impacts, scalability, replication, and deployment costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall in the Moist Tropical Caribbean Region (MTCR) in Costa Rica occurs practically throughout the year, with the quarters June–August (JJA) and December–February (DJF) concentrating over 70% of annual rainfall. Contrarily, in March–April and September–October, it rains below 100 mm per month. This seasonal rainfall behavior makes the region ideal for producing bananas (Musa spp.) and pineapple (Ananas comosus) for export (10% and 8% of total exports in 2021, respectively). A national-scale study determined that agriculture in the MTCR is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate changes. However, the climate in this region has been poorly studied so far. This research analyzed the spatial and temporal variability of annual, monthly, and seasonal (DJF, JJA, SO) rainfall in the MTCR and how they change in the study period based on quality-checked series of daily rainfall from 28 weather stations in two periods: 1985–2009 and 1997–2019. The results show that rainfall regimes in the region are variable in space and throughout the year, with peaks occurring close to the mountain range and minimum values close to the coast. Trends were statistically significant in the period 1985–2009 with a predominance of significant positive trends in DJF and significant negative trends in SO. No significant trends (positive or negative) were observed in the period 1997–2019. JJA rainfall has uneven regional distribution and presents a positive and significant trend in the mountain region. This paper contributes to filling the knowledge gap in rainfall seasonality, variability, and trends in a region where banana and pineapple commercial plantations are fundamental to the country's economy thus providing information to decision-making in the agri-food sector to reduce the negative impacts of changing rainfall regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of climate change on tropical ecosystems cannot be interpreted based on physical variables alone. Severe water shortages and deterioration of ecosystems are most acute in places where historical inequalities occur, such as unequal access to land and other goods and rights necessary for the livelihood of marginalized populations. This paper explores environmental transformations and their repercussions on water resources based on spatial analysis and fieldwork carried out in the Colombian Caribbean. We have engaged with peasant and Afro-descendant populations who have been excluded from water use and now face problems in sustaining their way of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weather-related natural disasters such as hurricanes are becoming more severe and more frequent due to human-induced climate change. Small Island Developing States are particularly vulnerable to such events. These extreme events have economic impacts on people's lives but are also associated with non-economic losses (NELs) that are not easily quantifiable. The United Nations Convention Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has tasked the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage to find ways to 'address' these losses. While the UNFCCC and literature identify NELs, these remain broad and high-level examples, potentially not applicable in local contexts. Therefore, international climate change policies that are developed to address NELs are at risk of being inadequate and might not address the needs of people affected. This paper addresses this research gap based on interviews with residents from the Caribbean islands Dominica and Barbuda who survived hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017. Responses show that the categorization of NELs under the UNFCCC only partially aligns with those NELs identified by interviewees. Firstly, interviewees do not make a distinction between economic and non-economic losses and secondly the term 'non-economic loss' is best expressed as 'non-economic impact' in order to encapsulate the full breadth of NELs. Both terms should jointly be considered as fulfilling 'life-functions'. HIGHLIGHTS The UNFCCC categories are not reflective enough of the broad range of non-economic losses (NEL) that exist. 'Non-economic loss' should be re-framed to 'non-economic impact' as a loss does not encapsulate the full breadth of losses identified by interviewees Another category for NELs is required as people do not always distinguish between economic and non-economic losses when economic items fulfil a life function The findings are detrimental for effective international and national policymaking [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The merits of polycentric climate governance have attracted considerable discussion. On the one hand, polycentric governance offers an alternative to top-down state-centric forms that have so far proven elusive. On the other, highly networked systems increase coordination challenges. Less attention has been paid to the varying capacities required to achieve coordination. In this article we explore the coordination of polycentric governance via a case study of sargassum influx management in the Caribbean. Since 2011, large quantities of sargassum seaweed have been washing up on Caribbean beaches with adverse socio-economic impacts. Our analysis of sargassum management policies reveals that a nascent polycentric system has generated significant cooperation in policy development and application across the region. However, there remain national capacity deficits to engage in this form of governance and to implement agreed actions. We conclude that advocates of a polycentric climate governance regime need to consider how capacity shapes participation, to the advantage of the largest and strongest. Polycentric governance can be useful for solving disparate cross-border environmental problems, but it also imposes a cost on the smallest that has thus far been unacknowledged and undertheorized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capacity building is defined as a process by which stakeholders increase their knowledge, skills and resources in order to improve their ability to adapt in a fast-changing world. Universities play a key role in the promotion of sustainability and implementation of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through capacity building. However, universities in developing countries face significant challenges in the implementation of capacity building programmes for sustainability given the lack of procedures that facilitate the systematic integration of multiple stakeholderś epistemologies, methodologies and objectives. In this paper, we present a capacity building approach as a problem-focused process that follows a multi-domain/multi-stakeholder scheme, and provides alignment with the functions and responsibilities of different sectors of society. The approach involves the use of a decision-support tool for sustainability that enables stakeholders to actively participate in decision-making processes. We illustrate the implementation of the capacity building approach through two case studies and show how general and specific capacities tailored to the different stakeholders can be developed. Our approach to capacity building accentuates the role of universities in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean as research and innovation hubs that could help design and implement flexible, transparent and robust strategies towards achievement of sustainability in the region. Key policy insights Capacity building to address the sustainable development goals should aim to develop sets of interlinked capacities for sustainability across stakeholder groups. Capacity building should take into account the regional institutional contexts in which universities in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean are embedded. Effective implementation of capacity building must be tailored to the different roles and functions of the actors involved. Thematic, technical, evaluative and procedural domains provide a comprehensive framework to build capacities, which can be continuously adapted according to the functions and responsibilities of the actors. Capacity building approaches to address climate change vulnerability require decision-support tools to inform policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 'Development' financing under the SDGs are likely to reproduce racialized extractive peripheries particularly the Caribbean. • Current global configurations remain silent on historical responsibility for uneven and extreme climate-induced consequences. • Climate finance extracts surplus value from racialized areas, create new bondages, and reflect new forms of coloniality. • Climate reparations address the historical inequity due to colonization and new forms of dispossession due to climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a normative framework for external financing that emphasizes stimulating investor interest to address so-called development challenges. However, their underpinnings reflecting continuities of longstanding structural divergence along racial lines when it comes to determinants of finance and uneven climate devastation are not well explored. Additionally, the current global configuration of "billions to trillions" of development finance remains silent on the historical responsibility and continuing coloniality that reproduce uneven and extreme consequences in climate-impacted Caribbean communities. This paper interrogates the role of the SDGs in reproducing racialized peripheries and extracting surplus value from these formerly colonized communities through the use of financial logics and innovative tools. The adoption of the SDGs at the same time of the International Decade of People of African Descent (2015–2024) appears merely coincidental. A lack of concern about climate justice and reparations for historical harms and climate-related losses is evident. This absence highlights the manner in which financial interests are privileged and mobilized in pursuit of high-yielding returns to be made from climate disaster, debt and dispossession. These contradictions usher in a new era of "bond- age " and coloniality that justify reparations for loss and damage facing frontline marginalised communities centred on climate justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper, "Sea level rise under climate change: Implications for beach tourism in the Caribbean" by Spencer, N., Strobl, E. and Campbell, A (Ocean and Coastal Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106207)., extracts a data set of sandy beach systems in 30 island nations in the Caribbean drawn from a much larger data set of sandy beach systems of the world provided by Vousdoukas et al., 2020. This discussion shows that there are significant problems with the quality of the data set on beaches and the assumptions underlying the predicted loss of beach sediment. In turn this will affect the validity of the economic modelling exercise on the potential impact on tourism in the islands. [Display omitted] • Shoreline change data from Vousdoukas et al. (2020) has many inaccuracies. • Potential sandy beach losses are exaggerated because of the use of the Bruun model. • Validity of the output from economic modelling is affected by these issues. • Better quality data can be obtained from individual islands rather than a world data base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a dearth of studies characterizing historical sea level variability at the local scale for the islands in the Caribbean. This is due to the lack of reliable long term tide gauge data. There is, however, a significant need for such studies given that small islands are under increasing threat from rising sea levels, storm surges, and coastal flooding due to global warming. The growing length of satellite altimetry records provides a useful alternative to undertake sea level analyses. Altimetry data, spanning 1993–2019, are used herein to explore multi-timescale sea level variability near the south coast of Jamaica, in the northwest Caribbean. Caribbean basin dynamics and largescale forcing mechanisms, which could account for the variability, are also investigated. The results show that the average annual amplitude off the south coast of Jamaica is approximately 10 cm with a seasonal peak during the summer (July–August). The highest annual sea levels occur within the Caribbean storm season, adding to the annual risk. The annual trend over the 27 years is 3.3 ± 0.4 mm/yr when adjusted for Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), instrumental drift, and accounting for uncertainties. This is comparable to mean global sea level rise, but almost twice the prior estimates for the Caribbean which used altimetry data up to 2010. This suggests an accelerated rate of rise in the Caribbean over the last decade. Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) and correlation analyses show the long-term trend to be a basin-wide characteristic and linked to warming Caribbean sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over the period. When the altimetry data are detrended and deseasoned, the leading EOF mode has maximum loadings over the northwest Caribbean, including Jamaica, and exhibits interannual variability which correlates significantly with a tropical Pacific-tropical Atlantic SST gradient index, local wind strength, and the Caribbean Low Level Jet (CLLJ). Correlations with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in summer, seen in this and other studies, likely arise through the contribution of the ENSO to the SST gradient index and the ENSO's modulation of the CLLJ peak strength in July. The results demonstrate the usefulness of altimetry data for characterizing sea level risk on various timescales for small islands. They also suggest the potential for developing predictive models geared towards reducing those risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a significant field for the Caribbean region and one that has been steadily developing from the 1980s onwards. The current ESD for 2030 framework offers an opportune moment for reflection on progress to-date, current challenges and future prospects for the field. With this in mind, this article shares perspectives gathered from qualitative interviews with those working in the foreground of the field across four Caribbean countries. Thoughts shared include the need to redefine and recontextualise development and education in the region, incorporate indigenous and traditional knowledge in ESD, and ensure more coherence amongst efforts within countries. The insights offered highlight significant areas for researchers and practitioners to capitalise on as ESD and the wider education systems within which it is framed are re-envisioned towards more resilient and sustainable societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global South scholars have long documented and theorised their communities' struggles against the ecological degradation, toxic contamination, and climate change–related extreme weather events which result from the overlapping ills of colonialism, imperialism, and racial capitalism. Building on that existing work, contributors to this collection extend and deepen understandings of the material entanglements of race and ecology in our contemporary conjuncture. Speaking from various scales and locations, including the Caribbean, Brazil, Sri Lanka, and Palestine, the authors reflect on those sites while also collectively recovering and amplifying lineages of thought on ecology from across the South. As the contributions collected here show, the traps set by global structures of race also direct mainstream climate solutions back towards the expropriation, premature death, or prevention of birth of peoples of colour by various means, from militarised conservation to eugenic populationism. Confronting the racial logics of both ecological harm and its supposed solutions is therefore a key task of this collection. As a collective, however, the issue's contributors also carve out paths to reparation and structural change which form the contours of an anti-racist ecology for our times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Regional Atmospheric Modelling System (RAMS) driven by data from the CMIP5 Earth System Model HadGEM2‐ES was used to simulate daily precipitation over the tropical Americas for both current and future climate, including distinct scenarios (representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5) and different time horizons (short‐term, mid‐term and long‐term changes). The major objective was to evaluate possible future changes in extreme events, with emphasis on the intensity of precipitation events and the duration of wet and dry spells. According to RAMS, longer dry spells are expected over most regions of the tropical Americas in the future, with indications for Northeast Brazil, Caribbean, Northern Amazon, and shorter wet spells over Central America and Amazon. With the exception of the Caribbean, there is a general tendency towards the increased frequency of intense precipitation in the tropical Americas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Forty years (1980–2019) of reanalysis data were used to investigate climatology and trends of heat stress in the Caribbean region. Represented via the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), a multivariate thermophysiological‐relevant parameter, the highest heat stress is found to be most frequent and geographically widespread during the rainy season (August, September, and October). UTCI trends indicate an increase of more than 0.2°C·decade−1, with southern Florida and the Lesser Antilles witnessing the greatest upward rates (0.45°C·decade−1). Correlations with climate variables known to induce heat stress reveal that the increase in heat stress is driven by increases in air temperature and radiation, and decreases in wind speed. Conditions of heat danger, as depicted by the heat index (HI), have intensified since 1980 (+1.2°C) and are found to occur simultaneously to conditions of heat stress suggesting a synergy between heat illnesses and physiological responses to heat. This work also includes the analysis of the record‐breaking 2020 heat season during which the UTCI and HI achieved above average values, indicating that local populations most likely experienced heat stress and danger higher than the ones they are used to. These findings confirm the gradual intensification of heat stress in the Caribbean and aim to provide a guidance for heat‐related policies in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate risk and vulnerability assessments were undertaken in the Caribbean for national ministries, with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank. The studies evaluated the impacts of climate-related natural hazards on road transport infrastructure and identified measures to strengthen resilience. Geographic information systems were used to map infrastructure assets and structural condition, and climate-related variables were then integrated to model current and future hazard scenarios. The data sets were analysed to identify hotspot areas of the road network where adaptation interventions were proposed and to prioritise climate-resilient investments. The assessment findings helped decision makers understand system resilience, adaptive capacity and how critical risk hotspot areas could be mitigated. Improved road infrastructure design and a more proactive approach to road and structure maintenance will help increase the resilience of the road networks by reducing vulnerability to hazards and minimising the impact of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few events have had an impact as the global crisis caused by COVID-19. However, prior to the pandemic, Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries already had severe problems in terms of inequality, environmental degradation, and dysfunctional political systems. Added to this are the growing challenges that climate change poses for this highly vulnerable region. This historic turning point represents a new call to consider future studies to re-imagine and reinvent alternative futures for the LAC region. For this paper, we conducted an in-depth qualitative futures study to identify how Latin American and Caribbean countries could build long-term resilience, focusing on adaptability to climate change risks, considering existing sustainable development challenges and the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economic, environmental, and social aspects. This study's findings provide recommendations for policymakers and decision-makers to achieve sustainable futures for LAC. Finally, it reflects on the value of collective action for a future-proof region. • Latin America and the Caribbean have long experienced inequality, environmental degradation, and dysfunctional political institutions. • Climate change poses growing economic, social, political, technological, and environmental challenges for this highly vulnerable region. • Latin American and Caribbean countries can address sustainable development challenges by focusing on adaptiveness to climate change risks. • A future-proof region requires collaborative and orchestrated action from governments, academics, businesses, and civil society. • Regenerative and inclusive futures for Latin America and the Caribbean require aligning dissimilar efforts toward common sustainable goals. • Futures studies have the potential to identify how Latin American and Caribbean countries can build long-term resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elysiais a genus of sea slugs in which some species can "steal" chloroplasts (kleptoplasty) from algae and keep them photosynthetically active inside their cells. Solar‐powered animals are more susceptible to climate change as photosynthesis can increase the stress for these animals in extreme environmental conditions. Here, we used the Maxent algorithm and environmental envelopes (i.e. the multi‐dimensional environmental space in which a species can occur) to model the ecological niche of 21 Elysia species in the Caribbean to estimate their current and future potential distribution. We then used predicted distributions to map potential taxonomical richness and to describe the representation of the genus inside the marine protected areas (MPAs). For most species, we show an expansion of the northern and southern range of distribution, but a reduction in the central part. Although changes in richness appeared in different areas, predictions emphasize four large extensions that have a potential current richness of 13 and will have no species in the future: Pamlico Sound, North Carolina; the southwest of the Gulf of Mexico; the Great Bahama Bank; and the southwest of Brazil. Out of the total area with environmental conditions adequate for at least one of the species in the genus, 24.7% is located within MPAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change includes the change of the long-term average values and the change of the tails of probability density functions, where the extreme events are located. However, obtaining average values are more straightforward than the high temporal resolution information necessary to catch the extreme events on those tails. Such information is difficult to get in areas lacking sufficient rain stations. Thanks to the development of Satellite Precipitation Estimates with a daily resolution, this problem has been overcome, so Extreme Precipitation Indices (EPI) can be calculated for the entire Colombian territory. However, Colombia is strongly affected by the ENSO (El Niño—Southern Oscillation) phenomenon. Therefore, it is pertinent to ask if the EPI's long-term change due to climate change is more critical than the anomalies due to climate variability induced by the warm and cold phases of ENSO (El Niño and La Niña, respectively). In this work, we built EPI annual time series at each grid-point of the selected Satellite Precipitation Estimate (CHIRPSv2) over Colombia to answer the previous question. Then, the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test was used to compare the samples drawn in each case (i.e., change tests due to both long-term and climatic variability). After performing the analyses, we realized that the importance of the change depends on the region analyzed and the considered EPI. However, some general conclusions became evident: during El Niño years (La Niña), EPI's anomaly follows the general trend of reduction -drier conditions- (increase; -wetter conditions-) observed in Colombian annual precipitation amount, but only on the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Andean region. In the Eastern plains of Colombia (Orinoquía and Amazonian region), EPI show a certain insensitivity to change due to climatic variability. On the other hand, EPI's long-term changes in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Andean region are spatially scattered. Still, long-term changes in the eastern plains have a moderate spatial consistency with statistical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Understanding speciation mechanisms requires disentangling processes that promote and erode population‐level divergence. Three hypotheses are raised that contemporary population structure is mainly shaped by refugial isolation, gene flow or both. Testing these hypotheses requires range‐wide phylogeography and integrative analyses across scales. Here we aimed to (1) re‐estimate the previously unresolved nuclear divergence within a widespread bat; (2) test the above three phylogeographical hypotheses and (3) inform conservation management under climatic change. Location: North America including the Caribbean. Taxon: The big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Methods: We collected range‐wide samples and genome‐wide markers using restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing. Population structure was analysed by clustering methods and spatial estimations. Nuclear phylogeographical divergence was estimated using tree methods (concatenation and coalescence) and network analyses (TreeMix). Phylogeographical hypotheses were tested by comparing alternative evolutionary scenarios using demographic modelling. Species distribution modelling was used to help identify Pleistocene refugia and predict future range shifts under climatic change. Results: We identified three populations in the Caribbean, eastern and western North America. The western population further split into three phylogeographical clades: Pacific, southwestern North America and Mexico. Discordance among mitochondrial and nuclear topologies reflected strong impacts of gene flow without sex bias. Demographic modelling supported scenarios of historical isolation followed by secondary gene flow and estimated Holocene divergence times. Species distribution was essentially continuous during glaciation with possible regional isolation, and northward range shifts were predicted under future climatic change. Main Conclusions: Contemporary population divergence of big brown bats was shaped by both historical isolation and secondary gene flow, supporting the third phylogeographical hypothesis. While climatic change likely triggered initial divergence, ongoing gene flow has largely impacted the dynamic within‐species evolution and generated population divergence without speciation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate projections indicate that temperatures in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) will rise by between 1.6 °C and 4 °C by the end of the century while changes in precipitation levels are expected to vary significantly across the region. This article estimates the impact of climate change on total factor productivity (TFP) and production. It combines data from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 28 LAC countries for a 54‐year period (1961–2014) in order to inform policy makers of the cost of output losses in the absence of viable climate adaptation strategies. We use estimates of a random‐parameter stochastic production frontier (SPF) model specification to capture heterogeneity in technology and partial output elasticities across countries and unobserved environmental characteristics. Results show that change in output is mainly driven by an average annual TFP growth rate of.95%. Climate change induces significant reductions (9.03–12.7%) in productivity over the 2015–2050 period. In terms of output, these losses range from USD $14.7 to $31.4 billion dollars in the LAC region, depending on the scenario and the discount rate used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with visual impairments (PwVI) represent a heterogeneous social group who often experience significant disabling barriers in exercising their rights throughout their life course. Understanding dimensions of vulnerability of PwVI to disasters and climate change is an important issue to reduce the culture of neglected disasters. To date, few studies have analyzed visual impairment and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. This exploratory qualitative research project analyzed how to include PwVI in the DRR policies of Brazil. The research question is: how can we include PwVI in the discussion of DRR and climate change? The response to this question is part of a joint effort that involved a university, a hazard monitoring agency, and three institutions that work with PwVI. The three main results of the project are: (1) a mapping method to identify the exposure of PwVI to landslides and floods, and to create tactile risk maps tailored to them; (2) incorporating the voices of PwVI regarding their vulnerabilities and capacities with respect to disasters and climate change, achieved through shared interaction during 15 face to face interviews and one workshop attended by 100 people; and (3) an initiative of inclusive education to reduce some of the disabling barriers that intensify vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock have long been integral to food production systems, often not by choice but by need. While our knowledge of livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation has evolved, the prevailing focus has been—somewhat myopically—on technology applications associated with mitigation. Here, we (1) examine the global distribution of livestock GHG emissions, (2) explore social, economic and environmental co‐benefits and trade‐offs associated with mitigation interventions and (3) critique approaches for quantifying GHG emissions. This review uncovered many insights. First, while GHG emissions from ruminant livestock are greatest in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMIC; globally, 66% of emissions are produced by Latin America and the Caribbean, East and southeast Asia and south Asia), the majority of mitigation strategies are designed for developed countries. This serious concern is heightened by the fact that 80% of growth in global meat production over the next decade will occur in LMIC. Second, few studies concurrently assess social, economic and environmental aspects of mitigation. Of the 54 interventions reviewed, only 16 had triple‐bottom line benefit with medium–high mitigation potential. Third, while efforts designed to stimulate the adoption of strategies allowing both emissions reduction (ER) and carbon sequestration (CS) would achieve the greatest net emissions mitigation, CS measures have greater potential mitigation and co‐benefits. The scientific community must shift attention away from the prevailing myopic lens on carbon, towards more holistic, systems‐based, multi‐metric approaches that carefully consider the raison d'être for livestock systems. Consequential life cycle assessments and systems‐aligned 'socio‐economic planetary boundaries' offer useful starting points that may uncover leverage points and cross‐scale emergent properties. The derivation of harmonized, globally reconciled sustainability metrics requires iterative dialogue between stakeholders at all levels. Greater emphasis on the simultaneous characterization of multiple sustainability dimensions would help avoid situations where progress made in one area causes maladaptive outcomes in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the Petersberg Climate Dialogue 2023, brought together governments for a high-level debate on how energy transition can be accelerated, addressing issues related to decarbonisation, finance flow and a roadmap for global response to climate challenges. During the conclusion of the first global stocktake, a critical moment to assess collective progress under the Paris Agreement, countries have been engaging in discussions on progress, challenges and opportunities. Nevertheless, for the region, there is still a long way on the path of structuring mandatory carbon markets and adjusting policies for an efficient energy transition and to fight the challenges brought by climate change. [Extracted from the article]

The sustainability of small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean is fragile because of island size and topography, limited resources, population growth, natural disasters, and climate change. Current and projected sustainability in 2050 were assessed within the framework of the water–energy–food (WEF) nexus for 10 of 16 SIDS with the best databases. Values for each WEF sector below either Falkenmark indicators or regional averages were considered unsustainable (failing) for that sector. Overall, SIDS were considered unsustainable if they failed at least two of three sectors. Projected water sustainability for 2050 was based on population growth and climate change effects on precipitation and per capita water availability. All SIDS failed the food sector, and four failed the energy sector. Water was considered the ultimate control for long-term sustainability. Five SIDS currently fail the water sector, but all but the largest two SIDS are likely to fail this sector by 2050. The role of poor governance and associated lack of long-term planning for population growth, disasters, and climate change, adaptative management strategies, infrastructure investment with an emphasis on nature-based solutions, decentralized energy grids emphasizing renewable energy, and local food production are clearly impediments for reaching sustainability goals for Caribbean SIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to briefly review the socio-economic impact caused by the flooding of Lake Enriquillo on the inhabitants of Boca Cachón due to the complex local phenomenon related to climate variability. Between 2003 and 2014, Boca de Cachón and the communities surrounding Lake Enriquillo were deeply affected by flooding of the Lake's rising waters. Lake Enriquillo is the largest wetland in the Caribbean and the first designated RAMSAR site. In turn, Boca de Cachón could be considered the first human settlement formally displaced because of climate variability in the Dominican Republic and probably one of the first in the Americas in the twenty-first century. Boca de Cachón is a rural Municipal District located to the northwest of the municipality of Jimaní, with a population of around 3000 inhabitants on the southwest border with the Republic of Haiti and located in the Biosphere Reserve Jaragua-Bahoruco-Enriquillo. Given the future climatic scenarios for the Dominican Republic and the possible climate change that could exacerbate by excess or, by default, the socio-environmental problems in the Lake's belt, it is necessary to support the communities in their capacity-building processes. The lessons learned from Boca de Cachón can serve as a learning space for adaptation processes in rural environments in the Caribbean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]