Climate change a big threat to jobs in Barbados and the Caribbean, especially tourism related employment.
That warning comes from the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is urging the region to take major action on climate change resilience and adaptation “to counter the short and long term climatic impacts on employment and livelihoods in the Caribbean”.
“Social protection systems that are integrated into the national climate resilience strategies of Caribbean countries are imperative to mitigate the livelihood impact on workers in the tourism sector and on all those affected by climate-related shocks,” the ILO advises in the World Employment And Social Outlook: Trends 2025.
The climate change threat to Caribbean jobs, especially tourism industry employment, is reinforced in a related podcast in the organisation’s The Future Of Work series.
Featured expert Ekkehard Ernst, chief of the macroeconomic policies and jobs unit in the ILO’s research department, flagged climate change as one of the key factors impacting global labour markets.
He said this was the case for low income countries especially, but relevant for all countries.
“Over time, the damage that climate change is producing is going up. Most low-income countries do not have the capacity to protect themselves. They do not have the capacity to compensate for the damage that is being caused,” he said.
“As these costs grow up, these countries suffer more and more. Their infrastructure gets deteriorated. All these factors that would help them to develop and grow are actually being undermined by climate change.”
Negative effects
The new ILO report stressed how reliant the Caribbean was on tourism employment and the industry’s exposure to climate change.
“Estimates suggest that more than 40 per cent of total employment in the Caribbean is related to the tourism sector, which is highly vulnerable to climate-related shocks,” said the ILO. “Tourism is estimated to contribute nearly 33 per cent of GDP in the Caribbean, to directly account for around 18 per cent of all employment there, and to be indirectly linked to 43.1 per cent of total employment.” It added: “These estimates suggest that in total around 413 000 people in the Caribbean are directly employed in the tourism sector, and that employment in the sector reaches nearly one million when both direct and indirect employment are included.”
In its examination of climaterelated risks and the Caribbean tourism industry, the ILO recommendations action to counter climate change’s negative effects on the
regional labour market.
While suggesting that social protection systems be integrated into the national climate resilience strategies of Caribbean countries, the report said that “funding gaps in such systems need to be bolstered by multilateral funds and international donors”.
“As the Caribbean contributes relatively little greenhouse gas emissions but are disproportionately affected by climate change, certain measures should be established to offset this imbalance – under the notion of ‘climate justice’,” the ILO urged.
“These include climate finance from developed countries to help build climate resilience, such as through multilateral climate funds like the Green Climate Fund Adaptation Fund. Additionally, and especially with the elevated levels of public debt in the Caribbean, debt-forclimate swaps – a form of debt relief in return for implementing climate resilience measures – could also be explored,” it recommended.
Elaborating on the predicted climate change impacts on tourism, the report observed that “some estimates suggest that coastal erosion from rising sea levels could contribute to a reduction of nearly 50 per cent of direct tourism revenue”.
“The COVID-19 pandemic also provided an insight into the impact of a major disruption of the tourism industry on livelihoods in the Caribbean. Estimates suggest that around 70 per cent of hotels laid off employees and more than half cut salaries,” it stated.
“The impact on employment is broader when one considers the indirect impacts on the broader service sector as well as the climate impacts on agriculture. During the pandemic, the Caribbean economies were able to contain job losses through stimulus packages and relief measures.”
The United Nations agency noted, however, that “with the longer-term impacts of climate-related shocks, such measures are less feasible; what is required instead is significant investment and action at the global level on climate change adaptation and resilience”. (SC)
