A Collaboratively Designed and Managed Flood Resilience Framework for Affected Communities in the Caribbean Region

The project focusses on flooding of coastal and riverine communities due to sea level rise in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Lucia. It aims to build resilience to flooding through understanding the connectivity between terrestrial, freshwater and coastal systems and the affected people. It will support improved policy and governance structures, and deliver decision support tools that reduce the social, economic and environmental damages as a consequence of climate change.

The project will be co-designed with communities, national and CARICOM regional agencies that undertake flood monitoring, adaptation and mitigation, and non-governmental agencies providing flood relief. The interdisciplinary team comprises natural/social scientists and engineers from Canada, UK, US, and researchers from the Caribbean. Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) are considered in the team composition, training plan and community involvement. The proposed research is based on highly innovative science in socio-economics, dynamically coupled human-water systems modelling, coastal and tidal modelling, river basin and land-use modelling, 'Wholescape' integration, nature-based solutions, stakeholder participation, integration of risk in decision making, flood hazard mapping, and development of flood forecasting and warning software, along with digital communications tools to support flood control and relief.

Research questions are: 1. What are the projected sea level rise, coastal dynamics, and tidal fluctuations expected in future climate scenarios? 2. What is the extent of disruptions to human populations, economies, health, and livelihoods due to flood inundations? 3. What are the socio-economic drivers and coping mechanisms to flooding by coastal and riverine communities? 4. Using adaptive management, what types of flood control and adaptation mechanisms are required to cope with future flooding scenarios? 5. What are the government policies, institutional frameworks, land use and zoning regulations and social networks required for resilience?

The outcome is a CARICOM Flood Resilience Framework, leading to the following changes and impacts: A co-developed Risk Hazard Prediction and Response Model; Capacity developed in the communities, government agencies and local universities; Improved policies and institutional frameworks for flood risk planning and management; New knowledge in inclusive co-designed flood control systems.