Introductory study on climate and security in Haiti

Haiti is often considered the most vulnerable country in Latin America and the Caribbean to climate change. Already today, the country faces important climate change risks, and the 30-year outlook appears equally challenging: temperatures are set to rise, rainfall to wane, droughts to worsen and sea levels to rise by up to half a meter, while storms become fiercer and fiercer. Collectively and concurrently, the social, political and security implications could be dire. Displacement and forced migration, raising food and water insecurity, stunted economic growth and threatened livelihoods, and strains on infrastructure and the ability of the government to deliver services, already critically inhibited, are but a few of the potential impacts. Together, these could seriously affect the health and productivity, livelihoods and employment, and human security of Haitians. 

Identifying how these forces interact and converge will be critical if policy makers wish to not only alleviate the worst impacts of climate change but also mitigate the increasing insecurity it is likely to produce. To this end, adelphi, in close collaboration with UNDP, UNEP and a consortium of UN Agencies, international NGOs in Haiti, Haitian government institutions and Haitian civil society organisations, will produce an introductory study on climate and security in Haiti. The study will seek to understand how will climate change affect peace and security in Haiti, and what concrete actions can be taken to prevent and reduce climate-related security risks. It will do so by combining state-of-the-art and innovative quantitative and qualitative assessments, based on the Weathering Risk methodology. The assessment methodology will be applied at the country level, while local case studies will be used to illustrate how climate-related security risks are already affecting Haitian people. Crucially, the study will be gender-, age-, and conflict sensitive, embedding an intersectional approach to ensure that recommendations address the differential risks and opportunities to build resilience facing different members of society.