Livelihood In/Securities, Vulnerability and Resilience to Global Change in the Caribbean Agriculture Sector

In this working paper I draw attention to the varying ways underlying forces of economic globalization and global environmental change have been threatening the livelihood security of farmers throughout the Caribbean. The paper also sheds light on some of the local-scale implications of these wider changes, and highlights the fact that the impacts are likely to produce uneven vulnerability outcomes mediated largely around differences in the social and economic landscapes in which individual farmers operate. While the paper draws strongly on the growing body of regional analyses of vulnerability and resilience, I also seek to move the discourse beyond the usual binary and mutually exclusive representations of these two concepts. Instead, I argue that farmers in the Caribbean are neither fully vulnerable nor fully resilient to these global forces. And in fact, their resilience may at times create the very conditions that engender new forms of vulnerability. The paper therefore calls for a critical rethinking (and even decentering) of these two dominant frameworks, if we are to arrive at a better understanding of the root causes and overarching forces shaping regional farmers’ insecurities to global change

La vulnérabilité aux ouragans dans le bassin caribéen

Bohle J. La vulnérabilité aux ouragans dans le bassin caribéen. In: Cruse R, Rhiney K, eds. Caribbean Atlas. 2014

Le rôle des médias dans la consommation d'un événement et la perception d'un lieu: Haïti et le séisme de 2010 vus par les jeunes allemands

Bohle J. Le rôle des médias dans la consommation d'un événement et la perception d'un lieu: Haïti et le séisme de 2010 vus par les jeunes allemands. In: Cruse R, Rhiney K, eds. Caribbean Atlas. 2014

Jamaica: assessing the impact of climate change on cocoa and tomato

This policy brief explores the consequences of climate change on cocoa and tomato production in Jamaica. The report describes work carried out by CIAT in partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), which used climate predictions and crop suitability models to assess the likely impact of climate change on crops grown in Jamaica. Results from the study indicate that there will be a reduction in the area of land suitable for growing tomato (and several other annual crops), as the region’s climate gets progressively warmer. The largest reductions in suitability are expected in low-lying areas, particularly along Jamaica’s southern coast. However, in the case of cocoa, the impacts are less significant, suggesting its cultivation could be expanded as a response strategy to the projected changes in climate. Additionally, it was found that the higher areas of the island would gradually gain suitability for both tomato and cocoa over time. Key policy recommendations are provided

Capacity building program to improve stakeholder resilience and adaptation to climate change in Jamaica (CBCA)

Jamaica will face future climate trends marked by increases in the intensity and frequency of climate extremes, escalating rainfall variability, and increased droughts and floods; combined with fragile ecosystems and sensitive coastal zones, the result is that Jamaica has a relatively high vulnerability to climate change. Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), which incorporates adaptation/resilience and mitigation measures while ensuring sustainable productivity, has the potential to build synergies and limit trade-offs in agriculture under present climate uncertainties, reduce existing knowledge gaps, and facilitate alignment between sectors and policies. The Evidence-Based, Gender-Equitable Framework for Prioritizing Climate-Smart Agriculture Interventions has been adapted from different tools and research methods to overcome the challenge of identifying context-specific technologies and better understanding the trade-offs and co-benefits of different combinations of portfolios could deliver for different stakeholders. Findings from spatial a water-balance model show low water yield, simulations of future climate characteristics using the crop model AquaCrop show that irrigated systems to balance the crops water demand are crucial to achieving higher yields, a multi-criteria analysis with stakeholders identified CSA practices for each key-value chain (crop), and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) training manuals and programs were co-created with extension workers and farmers

Food systems for delivering nutritious and sustainable diets: Perspectives from the global network of science academies

The triple burden of malnutrition, which encompasses undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and obesity, is a global challenge experienced by all nations, albeit in different forms. The Food and Nutrition Security and Agriculture (FNSA) project of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), a global network of over 130 academies of science and medicine, sought to determine the key challenges and opportunities for science and innovation to contribute to improved FNSA. Four parallel studies were carried out, one for each region (Africa, Europe, Asia and the Pacific and the Americas), which served as a resource for a fifth study focusing on science and policy issues that require international consideration and coordination. Addressing global food and nutrition security requires a food systems approach that considers issues pertaining both to sustainable production and sustainable consumption, to deliver healthy and nutritious diets with a minimal environmental impact. Developing a broad evidence base and building critical mass in research and innovation (scientific, social and in policy), and mobilising these resources in advising policy is critical. It is also important to integrate analysis at national, regional and global levels and focus on local-global linkages and inter-regional issues. This perspectives article discusses some of the key regional and global findings of the IAP FNSA studies, in the context of more recently available evidence on the topic.The IAP FNSA project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) .https://www.elsevier.com/locate/gfshj2019Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmen

Towards a new model for improved tourism-agriculture linkages? The case of two farmers' co-operatives in Jamaica

Changes to the new global political economy, particularly those relating to trade liberalisation and its re-shaping of global food chains, have made many Caribbean states increasingly aware of the need to reform their respective agricultural sectors if they are to remain competitive. However, a large part of this reform invohes a shift in emphasis away from agriculture towards service-based industries, particularly tourism. The problem is that this growth in tourism has occurred alongside high rates of foreign exchange leakages and a high import content. lf Caribbean states are to increase their benefits from tourism, ways must be found to increase the industry's use of local goods and services. One such strategy is to improve tourism's link with local agriculture. Studies have shown that hotels across the region remain significant consumers of imported foodstuffs. While the reasons for the industry's high import content are many and multifaceted, the way local foods have traditionally been produced and marketed has played a major role in thwarting the link between tourism and domestic agriculture. This paper explores co-operatives as an alternative to traditional farming systems in forging a viable link with the Jamaican tourism industry. It contends that despite many existing and impending challenges, co-operatives provide a practical and efficient means of forging stronger linkages between the tourism and agriculture sectors

Excel 2019 for marketing statistics: a guide to solving practical problems

This book shows the capabilities of Microsoft Excel in teaching marketing statistics effectively. It is a step-by-step, exercise-driven guide for students and practitioners who need to master Excel to solve practical marketing problems. If understanding statistics isn’t your strongest suit, you are not especially mathematically inclined, or if you are wary of computers, this is the right book for you. Excel, a widely available computer program for students and managers, is also an effective teaching and learning tool for quantitative analyses in marketing courses. Its powerful computational ability and graphical functions make learning statistics much easier than in years past. Excel 2019 for Marketing Statistics: A Guide to Solving Practical Problems capitalizes on these improvements by teaching students and managers how to apply Excel to statistical techniques necessary in their courses and work. In this new edition, each chapter explains statistical formulas and directs the reader to use Excel commands to solve specific, easy-to-understand marketing problems. Practice problems are provided at the end of each chapter with their solutions in an appendix. Separately, there is a full practice test (with answers in an appendix) that allows readers to test what they have learned

Reggae, identité et paysage urbain dans un bidonville de Kingston-ouest

This paper looks into place's multidimensionality through the example of a western Kingston's slum. Reading the urban – or more accurately proto-urban – landscape of the peculiar Trenchtown's community allows us to reveal the place's politics, culture and identity. Trenchtown is the birthplace of reggae stars such as Bob Marley and many more. Explaining this landscape brings in factors such as violence linked to political malpractices (garrison politics, clientelism, etc.), State's abandon tied to Jamaican society's segregation as well as international macroeconomics, chronic economic poverty and huge cultural wealth (notably through Reggae music that emerged there and Rastafari culture)