Resilient Caribbean Communities: A Long-Term Perspective on Sustainability and Social Adaptability to Natural Hazards in the Lesser Antilles

Abstract

Caribbean islands, like other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), are at the center of the vulnerability debate as current climatic trends predict elevated sea levels and increased frequency of storms, leading to significant challenges for local communities. Caribbean islanders have been exposed to climatic challenges since the initial occupation of the archipelago between five to eight thousand years ago. They have been continually confronted with severe droughts, tropical cyclones, extreme wave events, sea-level changes, and the accompanying impacts. The various phenomena have stimulated island residents both to anticipate and respond to such events, adapting their lifestyles and socio-cultural and political structures and ties across the region over time. In this article, we innovatively combine archaeological and palaeoenvironmental data with longitudinal coastal-erosion data and ethnographic data to further develop and promote sustainable local strategies to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change and increasingly frequent and violent weather events on small-island settings. To find proxies, we first look into the region’s pre-colonial archaeological record. Second, we delve into predictive modeling and the current and future climatic challenges for heritage sites and local coastal communities, as well as related collaborative heritage mitigation efforts. Third, we discuss the contribution of traditional knowledge practices to climate change adaptation. The results show how the long-term perspective and multidisciplinary approach adopted here may lead to realistic solutions to seemingly intractable problems. They also reveal how collaborative projects involving all stakeholders on an equal basis in all phases of research have become a top priority in climate change mitigation and heritage safeguarding.

Local Voices, the Uses of Archaeological Heritage in the Caribbean

“…The implications of this way of doing research directly conflict with the predominant approach that focuses only on archaeologists as the center of the research process, and the archaeologist's opinion as the final, most valid interpretation of the past (e.g., Flewellen et al, 2021). It supports a recent call for the implementation of traditional knowledge in response to crisis and resilience related to heritage in the Caribbean (Fricke and Hoerman, 2022;Herrera Malatesta and Jean,2023;Hofman et al, 2021).…”

“…For example, in Siegel and Righter's (2011) edited volume, which emphasizes the stakes of heritage protection in the Caribbean, each chapter focuses on a specific island and took the discussions on heritage management to a different, national scale. The challenges of heritage also loom large in works that discuss cases of heritage management (Hofman & Haviser, 2015); the concerns protecting heritage stimulate further research highlighting the natural and cultural processes that conspire to erase it (e.g., Dunnavant et al, 2019;Escurra & Rivera-Collazo, 2018;Hofman and Haviser, 2015;Hofman et al 2021;Richards, 2022;Rojas, 2002;Siegel et al, 2013;Stancioff, 2018). Looking closely at tourism, scholars have addressed the impact and relations between Caribbean heritage and tourism (e.g., Bruno et al, 2020;Duval, 2004;Jordan & Duval, 2009;Jordan & Jolliffe, 2013;Scantleberu, 2011;Scher, 2010).…”

Designing for a Flow: Navigating Temporalities in Housing Considerations in Low-Income and Hazard-Prone Caribbean Contexts

“…The Caribbean islands and their residents have faced numerous hazardous events and their implications since the initial settlements [53]. Due to their geographical position, the islands often experience seismic activity and earthquakes, which can cause tremors and even generate tsunami waves.…”

“…In 2017, the major hurricanes Irma and Maria swept through the east of the islands, bringing along high-speed winds, torrential rains, tornados, and floods. Apart from climatic and geographic impacts, the islands are dealing with physical challenges related to rapid urbanization and industrialization [7,53,57]. Despite the efforts to prevent the damages caused by the various challenges, in the past 70 years, almost all the residents of several islands, such as Montserrat (1989), were left homeless in the aftermath of a hazard [7].…”