Saint Lucia experiences several stresses with the onset of climate change, issues related to droughts during unusually extended dry periods and significant flooding and subsequent damage from tropical systems have been high on the agenda.
These challenges along with the significance of the tourism sector to the Saint Lucian economy and its exposure to climatic threats, the country is vulnerable to large-scale global economic and environmental shocks and stresses. Given the challenges faced, the Government of Saint Lucia sought funding to address climate change impacts on the tourism sector and mainstream climate change adaptation measures into national development through this project.
The results of the climate analysis indicated that the annual mean temperature of Saint Lucia is projected to increase irrespective of scenario, model or methodology used. GCMs suggest that the mean annual temperature over Saint Lucia will increase by 0.3 to 1.2˚C by the 2030s and 0.5 to 2.1˚C by the 2060s, relative to 1970-99 with warming occurring at a faster rate in the north of the island than in the south by the 2030s (1.313 versus 1.231°C).
Increasing temperatures, sea level rise, more intense hurricane events, and rainfall extremes translate to a greater chance of drought and flood events. These physical changes then create a full spectrum of impacts for the ecosystems that support human life, the built environment, health and way of life.
Saint Lucia’s tourism sector has a number of inherent characteristics that make it very vulnerable to these threats, including fragile natural systems, existing high environmental impacts and development pressures of the built tourism structures, focused coastal tourism development, limited human and financial resources, limited access to technology, an open economy, and propensity to extreme weather events.