Balancing climate resilience and adaptation for Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Building institutional capacity.

This article focuses on climate resilience and adaptation strategies in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which, despite minimal contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions, face disproportionate climate risks and economic vulnerabilities. It reviews existing resilience approaches, distinguishing between resilience-by-intervention (RBI)—externally driven, short-term recovery efforts—and resilience-by-design (RBD)—internally originated, long-term adaptive capacities—and argues that while both are valuable, RBD offers superior potential for transformative adaptation. The article highlights barriers to effective RBD implementation in the Caribbean, including limited financial, technical, and institutional capacities, and emphasizes the importance of integrating societal values such as public safety, equity, and environmental sustainability into resilience planning. It concludes that advancing climate resilience in Caribbean SIDS requires strengthening institutional capacities, fostering collaboration among governments, private sectors, and communities, and investing in data-driven decision-making and workforce development to enable sustainable, adaptive responses to escalating climate threats.