This case study presents the assessment of the criticality of Saint Lucia’s major coastal transportation assets (airports and seaports) and their potential vulnerabilities to climate variability and change. The contribution of transportation to Saint Lucia’s economy was estimated at EC$ 400,920,000 (13 percent) in 2015, a figure that highlights the importance of seaports and airports and their intermodal connections in the social and economic development. In order to assess asset vulnerability to climate variability and change, historical hydro-meteorological impacts and disruptions were summarized and the direct and indirect impacts on the 4 critical coastal transport assets of St. Lucia (i.e. the 2 seaports and 2 airports) were assessed.
The work was carried out as part of UNCTAD’s technical assistance project on “Climate change impacts on coastal transport infrastructure in the Caribbean: enhancing the adaptive capacity of SIDS” (SIDSport-ClimateAdapt.unctad.org). Other main project outputs include a case study on Saint Lucia, a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Framework for Caribbean Coastal Transport Infrastructure, tools and guidance, and capacity building workshops.
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