An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the water sector in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines

Water security which is essential to life and livelihood, health and sanitation, is determined not only by the water resource, but also by the quality of water, the ability to store surplus from precipitation and runoff, as well as access to and affordability of supply. All of these measures have financial implications for national budgets. The water sector in the context of the assessment and discussion on the impact of climate change in this paper includes consideration of the existing as well as the projected available water resource and the demand in terms of: quantity and quality of surface and ground water, water supply infrastructure - collection, storage, treatment, distribution, and potential for adaptation. Wastewater management infrastructure is also considered a component of the water sector. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has two distinct hydrological regimes: mainland St Vincent is one of the wetter islands of the eastern Caribbean whereas the Grenadines have a drier climate than St Vincent. Surface water is the primary source of water supply on St Vincent, whereas the Grenadines depend on man-made catchments, rainwater harvesting, wells, and desalination. The island state is considered already water stressed as marked seasonality in rainfall, inadequate supply infrastructure, and institutional capacity constrains water supply. Economic modelling approaches were implemented to estimate sectoral demand and supply between 2011 and 2050. Residential, tourism and domestic demand were analysed for the A2, B2 and BAU scenarios. In each of the three scenarios – A2, B2 and BAU Saint Vincent and the Grenadines will have a water gap represented by the difference between the two curves during the forecast period of 2011 and 2050. The amount of water required increases steadily between 2011 and 2050 implying an increasing demand on the country‘s resources as reflected by the fact that the water supply that is available cannot respond adequately to the demand. The Global Water Partnership in its 2005 policy brief suggested that the best way for countries to build the capacity to adapt to climate change will be to improve their ability to cope with today‘s climate variability (GWP, 2005). This suggestion is most applicable for St Vincent and the Grenadines, as the variability being experienced has already placed the island nation under water stress. Strategic priorities should therefore be adopted to increase water production, increase efficiency, strengthen the institutional framework, and decrease wastage. Cost benefit analysis was stymied by data availability, but the ―no-regrets approach‖ which intimates that adaptation measures will be beneficial to the land, people and economy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with or without climate change should be adopted.

Comercio exterior: Exportaciones e importaciones según destino y origen por principales zonas económicas. 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995-2002

Incluye Bibliografía

Hambre y desnutrición en los países miembros de la Asociación de Estados del Caribe (AEC)

Incluye Bibliografía

Relaciones CARICOM-Centroamérica y la República Dominicana: una ventana de oportunidades de comercio e inversión

Prólogo de la Sra. Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de CEPAL, y de José Miguel Insulza, Secretario General de OEA

Hambre y desnutrición en los países miembros de la Asociación de Estados del Caribe (AEC)

Incluye Bibliografía

Public debt sustainability in the Caribbean

This paper analyses public debt in the most indebted Caribbean countries – i.e. Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts and Nevis – from the standpoint of its sustainability. A level of debt is deemed to be sustainable when the debt-to-GDP ratio remains constant or declines. The concept of sustainability is closely linked to that of solvency. A government is solvent if the net present value of its future primary balances (i.e. that excludes interest payments) is equal to or greater than the present value of public debt stock. It can be demonstrated that if the debt-to-GDP ratio is not on an explosive path, that it either stable or decreasing, the solvency condition holds. It is worth noting that the concept of fiscal sustainability addressed in this paper differs from that of optimality of public debt. The analysis that follows is intended to determine whether the service of the current debt levels is consistent with the fiscal stance. Therefore, it does not set out to identify the target debt level based on any optimality criteria. The next section presents the main features of different theoretical approaches to analyse public debt sustainability.1 Section II discusses the situation of public debt in the Caribbean countries showing different indicators; Section III analyses debt sustainability in countries with access to market financing; Section IV does the same in Guyana – a country dependent on concessional financing and, as such, included in the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative – and the countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU). Sections V and VI go beyond debt levels as determinants of fiscal sustainability, highlighting the importance of the currency composition of debt and the variability of fiscal revenue. The last section concludes.

Exploring policy linkages between poverty, crime and violence: a look at three Caribbean states

Includes bibliography

Caribbean policy response to the information age: a review of government information and communications technology policy and services in selected Caribbean countries

Includes bibliography

Caribbean synthesis review and appraisal report in the context of the 15th anniversay of the adoptaton of the Beijing declaration and platform for action

The report is a summary based on information received by ECLAC from the eight English-speaking Caribbean countries of Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Jamaica, Suriname, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago in response to the questionnaire to governments on the Implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000). The report is therefore set in the context of the regional review and appraisals of the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2010. This Executive Summary highlights the achievements and the challenges for the Caribbean subregion in the progress towards implementation of the Beijing Platform of Action.

Agricultural transformation and Gender considerations in Caribbean Economics

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the gender and social disparities existing in the agricultural and rural sector in Caribbean economies. In this context, agricultural transformation as occasioned by the dismantling of preferential trading arrangements is analysed to identify the most relevant gender discriminatory measures in the current agricultural development policy and programmes. The analysis seeks to provide the basis for enhancing understanding among policy makers, planners and rural development practitioners of the gender and social dimension involved in the formulation of agricultural policy and more specifically in relation to the new policy and institutional arrangements for agriculture in the region. The paper also provides insights regarding what changes should take place to create an enabling environment for more gender-based approaches to policy-making and strategic planning in agricultural development and trade in the Caribbean. The methodology centred on the review of secondary sources that provide references on the new challenges, opportunities and constraints faced by the agricultural sector, in particular small farmers, in the context of globalization and agriculture transformation. Much of the literature for this assignment was obtained from FAO Headquarters in Rome and the FAO Subregional Office in Barbados, as well as the OECS Secretariat in St. Lucia. In the process of the review exercise, due consideration was given to changes in agricultural production patterns, resources allocation and rural livelihoods. Efforts to examine the most relevant policy measures and mechanisms in-place in support to agricultural development in the region were constrained, in the main, by the absence of gender disaggregated data. Documentation as regards the situation of women and men in relation to agricultural labour, rural income and food security situation in regions were limited. The use of the internet served to bridge the communication gap between countries and institutions. The preliminary draft of the paper was presented and discussed at the FAO/ECLAC/UNIFEM regional workshop on mainstreaming gender analysis in agriculture and trade policies, for Caribbean countries, in November 2003. The second draft of the paper was informed by comments from the workshop and additional information acquired through field visits to Barbados, St. Kitts and St. Vincent in March 2004. The three day visits to each of these three countries entailed a review/appreciation of the resource, constraints and institutional capacities for gender mainstreaming within the agricultural sector at the national level. This included visits to some of the major agricultural projects and interviews with farmers (where feasible) in respect of their perspective of the current situation of the agricultural sector and the viability of their farm enterprises. As well, meetings were held with relevant/available officials within the respective ministries of agriculture to discern the gender consideration as regards agricultural policy and planning at the country level. The internet was invaluable to the task of sourcing supplementary information to satisfy the aim of the paper; in respect of the identification of concrete policy measures and actions to formulate and develop more gender/social-responsive agricultural development policies. The final revision, though thwart with resource and communication constraints, was ultimately completed in compliance with the structure and approach proposed in the terms of references for this FAO/ECLAC assignment.

An assessment of social vulnerability and resilience in poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPS/I-PRSPS) of selected Caribbean SIDS

The study undertakes a review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), and Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (I-PRSPs) of four selected Caribbean SIDS from the Eastern Caribbean. The countries had participated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy initiative formulated by the World Bank. The country papers reviewed were the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The review assesses and provides a comparative analysis of the general awareness of the notions of vulnerability and the inclusion and use of strategies that address the reduction of vulnerability and the strengthening of resilience by the countries reviewed. It also explores how vulnerability reduction strategies were applied to differing groups, as elaborated through the PRSPs.

Municipal solid waste management in the Caribbean: a benefit-cost analysis

Includes bibliography

Developments in relation to the proposal for securing the international recognition of the Caribbean sea as a special area in the context of sustainable development

Includes bibliography

Report of the Grenada national yachting consultation

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean embarked on a project "Development of a Subregional Marine-based Tourism Strategy" in 2001. The project, co-funded by the Government of the Netherlands, is aimed at the development of sustainable yachting tourism in the Eastern Caribbean and focuses on the island arc from the British Virgin Islands in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south. The project includes the conduct of national studies in the British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. In all countries the national studies were preceded by consultations with the private and public sector and, following completion of the national reports, the findings were similarly discussed through a private and public sector consultation. On 26 March 2003, as part of the project's activities, a national consultation on yachting in Grenada was convened by the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Culture, Social Security, Gender and Family Affairs in collaboration with the Marine and Yachting Association of Grenada (MAYAG); and ECLAC. One of the objectives of the consultation was to review the report "Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique: The Yachting Sector" that was prepared by the ECLAC Subregional Headquarters of the Caribbean and co-sponsored by the Government of the Netherlands. A second objective included the provision of a forum for a private sector-government discussion on yachting and the pleasure boat industry and its contribution to Grenada. The final objective was the identification of ways and means to increase the contribution of yachting as a viable component of the tourism industry in Grenada.

The impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Caribbean

The main aim of this study is to estimate the economic impact of climate change on nine countries in the Caribbean basin: Aruba, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. A typical tourism demand function, with tourist arrivals as the dependent variable, is used in the analysis. To establish the baseline, the period under analysis is 1989-2007 and the independent variables are destination country GDP per capita and consumer price index, source country GDP, oil prices to proxy transportation costs between source and destination countries. At this preliminary stage the climate variables are used separately to augment the tourism demand function to establish a relationship, if any, among the variables. Various econometric models (single OLS models for each country, pooled regression, GMM estimation and random effects panel models) were considered in an attempt to find the best way to model the data. The best fit for the data (1989-2007) is the random effects panel data model augmented by both climate variables, i.e. temperature and precipitation. Projections of all variables in the model for the 2008-2100 period were done using forecasting techniques. Projections for the climate variables were undertaken by INSMET. The cost of climate change to the tourism sector was estimated under three scenarios: A2, B2 and BAU (the mid-point of the A2 and B2 scenarios). The estimated costs to tourism for the Caribbean subregion under the three scenarios are all very high and ranges from US$43.9 billion under the B2 scenario to US$46.3 billion under the BAU scenario.