Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change: A Sourcebook for the Caribbean Water Sector

This information brief outlines the concept of 'no and low regrets' investment options to enhance climate resilience within the Caribbean water sector. It advocates for investments that provide immediate benefits and remain effective across various future climate scenarios, highlighting Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and tools like CCORAL as key mechanisms for implementation.

• No and low regrets investment options are prioritized because they reduce vulnerability to both current and future hazards and remain effective regardless of climate change uncertainty. 'No regrets' options provide benefits even without climate change, while 'low regrets' options may have small additional costs to offset risks that are minimal compared to the benefits of avoiding future costs.
• Investments are classified as no or low regrets if they exhibit three main characteristics: they provide benefits across a wide range of future uncertainties, they generate co-benefits across different sectors and stakeholders to maximize benefits and minimize trade-offs, and they offer flexibility to be adjusted in the future to avoid long-term investment lock-in.
• No and low regrets options for water management can be applied across five different levels: policy (national strategies based on IWRM), legislative (water pricing and allocation), planning (enhancing data and basin planning), budget (financing strategies for adaptation), and project (assessing infrastructure risks).
• Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) is considered a priority low regret activity because it improves water management sustainability for immediate and future climate risks. Additionally, improving water efficiency, such as reducing leakage, can provide co-benefits like reduced greenhouse gas emissions, which may attract specialist climate change mitigation finance.
• The Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation TooL (CCORAL), a web-based platform developed by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), is specifically designed to help screen decision-making activities to identify no and low regret options for resilience.

APA

Climate and Development Knowledge Network (2014). Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change: A Sourcebook for the Caribbean Water Sector. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Information-Brief-4-WV.pdf

Chicago

Climate and Development Knowledge Network. Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change: A Sourcebook for the Caribbean Water Sector. 2014. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Information-Brief-4-WV.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |title=Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change: A Sourcebook for the Caribbean Water Sector |date=2014 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Information-Brief-4-WV.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateanddevelopmentknowledgenetwork2014achieving, author = {{Climate and Development Knowledge Network}}, title = {{Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change: A Sourcebook for the Caribbean Water Sector}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2014}, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Information-Brief-4-WV.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }