In keeping with its mandate to guide the Caribbean Region’s low-emissions climate resilience-building efforts, the CCCCC also hosts the largest Caribbean SIDS repository of data and information on climate change. The CCCCC also provides data and information backup facilities for its partner institutions.

With support from the USAID and other donor partners, the CCCCC continues to collaborate with its partner institutions to install instrumentation such as Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), Coral Reef Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Stations and other hydrometeorology sensors to improve the data capture requirements of the region and to address the gaps in data profiles. This modality for enhanced data capture is bolstered by the acquisition by the CCCCC, with funding provided by the USAID, of the Caribbean Community’s only wholly owned LiDAR sensor, which is currently under active deployment in the region to capture bathymetric and topographic data across all CARICOM States.

There is an urgent need to continue building the capacity of the region for the collection and analysis of vital data using a range of space-based techniques. This will aid in an expansion of the overall knowledge base on climate change impacts and associated physical and economic vulnerabilities. In addition to existent Impact models, the process of identifying adaptation options is further supported by the development of a range of tools that allow for the integration of climate risk into national development planning, the generation of site-specific climate scenarios and the analysis of extreme events (e.g. droughts, storms) all facilitating decisions on proactive application to cope with climate impacts.

To adequately respond to the threats of climate change and climate variability, the Caribbean region must be able to identify and quantify climate change-related vulnerability and risks. The absence of adequate data is a constraint to accurately assessing vulnerability as well as guiding informed adaptation actions across the region. The limited access to data impedes the region’s ability to adopt a proactive stance towards low emissions climate resilient development. All Caribbean States need to strengthen their data capture and management capabilities, critical for informing evidence-based decisions and among other requirements, emissions targets.

Acquired data must be transformed into usable information to have relevance to users and meet requirements promptly. The transformation from a business-as-usual approach to the adoption of evidence-based decision-making must be supported at many levels and by the various institutions that are mandated to support the management of data and instrumentation across the region, provide information, services and technical guidance, and facilitate capacity building within their respective sectors.

Effective transformation is only possible if an aggressive and long-term process for enhancing knowledge is embraced and implemented. The currently available data in these areas is fragmentary at best. Consequently, the scope and accuracy for assessing climate change-related vulnerability in all the major economic and social sectors inclusive of agriculture, tourism, water, and health, as well as implementing informed adaptation actions in the region are deficient. Meteorological and environmental data are scattered over several institutions and locations making it difficult for countries to inform decision-making based on existing evidence. There is an urgent need to continue building the capacity in the region for the collection and analysis of data. This will aid in an expansion of the overall knowledge base on climate change impacts and associated physical and economic vulnerabilities while simultaneously seeking to develop interventions to mitigate such impacts.

There is increasing demand for hydro-meteorological data but the current hydro-meteorological network in the region is not sufficient to meet the required coverage and need. Hydro-meteorological data such as wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, precipitation, solar radiation, and water levels (both historical and current) are essential drivers of the regional climate models (RCMs) used to project future climate in the region. The use of observed data is critical to testing the RCMs used in research by the climate scientists at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona, Institute of Meteorology of Cuba (INSMET) and other regional institutions. The data and the climate models are also used to support peer-reviewed research by scientists for inclusion in the IPCC Assessment Reports and other publications on climate change impacts in the Caribbean. Hydrometeorological Stations within the network that meet the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) specifications are also contributing data to the Global Climate Observation System (GCOS).

Under the leadership of the CCCCC, and in collaboration with regional partners; USAID Eastern and Southern Caribbean; the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), the Climate Studies Group (CSG) of the University of the West Indies (UWI), and the regional climate modelling network, advances have been made in the downscaling of global climate models to provide outputs that are used in the conduct of sector-based vulnerability and impact assessments. The assessments are used to develop sector adaptation strategies for governments to inform their development plans and to mobilize resources for the execution of specific recommendations.