ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the particular vulnerabilities of Caribbean states to climate change, highlighting the issue of loss and damage. It provides an overview of constitutional protection of human rights in Commonwealth Caribbean constitutions. The chapter also provides examples of weather events in The Bahamas, and Trinidad & Tobago, which illustrate some of the ongoing impacts from climate change that these states are enduring. Caribbean small island states are some of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change, and the human rights of residents of these countries have arguably already been impacted. The U. N. General Assembly noted that in the context of small island states, climate change–related sea level rise and extreme events are threatening the habitability and, in the longer term, territorial existence of these states, impacting their citizens' rights to self-determination. Existing policy and legislative mechanisms providing procedural human rights, such as public participation in environmental policy- and decision-making, could also provide avenues for redress.
