Scaling up of Caribbean Hydrometeorological and Multi-hazard Early Warning Services (CREWS) in Belize and Trinidad and Tobago

Belize and Trinidad and Tobago, like other vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS), face disproportionate risks from climate change. Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, tropical cyclones, floods, heat waves and droughts increasingly threaten people’s lives, livelihoods, infrastructure and critical economic sectors. These hazards, such as coastal erosion, water insecurity, loss of agricultural productivity, damage to critical infrastructure, and heightened disaster recovery costs, exacerbate existing vulnerabilities and threaten to reverse development gains.

This project will strengthen hydrometeorological and early warning services in Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, and the broader Caribbean region by achieving three complementary outcomes. Outcomes 1 and 2 focus on building the technical and institutional foundation for effective early warning by improving governance, infrastructure, and forecasting capabilities while enhancing resilience across key sectors. Outcome 3 focuses on improving risk communication and preparedness at the community level, ensuring that timely, actionable climate and weather information reaches vulnerable populations.

Collectively, the outcomes create a catalytic pathway to support data-informed decision-making, institutional capacity-building, and locally driven climate action, enabling a paradigm shift towards more anticipatory, inclusive and resilient climate adaptation systems. The project is anticipated to have a strong impact, directly benefitting 1.2 million people (67 per cent of the two countries’ populations) and an additional 610,000 indirectly across the wider Caribbean.

The project is being advanced under a new Scaling Up Framework between the GCF Simplified Approval Process (SAP) and the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative, which aims to develop, scale up and fast-track financing modalities for EWS, firmly grounded in country ownership. The project will scale up and expand on the outcomes of Phase 1 of the 2018 CREWS Caribbean initiative.