As global attention to climate change intensified in 2019, experts repeatedly pointed to Haiti as one of the most extreme examples of climate vulnerability in the world — a country that contributed almost nothing to global greenhouse gas emissions but faced devastating consequences from climate-driven changes including intensifying hurricanes, changing rainfall patterns, and sea level rise.
Haiti’s vulnerability was amplified by the deforestation, poverty, and governance failures that limited its capacity to adapt. A country with robust institutions, adequate resources, and environmental stewardship might absorb the same climate stressors with manageable impact. Haiti absorbed them as compounding disasters.
The 2010 hurricane season, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and numerous tropical storms in between had provided grim illustrations of what climate-driven extreme weather could do to a country with Haiti’s vulnerabilities. With climate projections suggesting intensification of Caribbean hurricane activity, the future risk was deeply alarming.
Environmental and development organizations called for international climate finance to be directed toward Haiti’s adaptation needs — improved drainage infrastructure, early warning systems, reforestation, climate-resilient agriculture, and coastal protection. They argued that Haiti’s climate vulnerability was partly a consequence of historical exploitation and injustice, and that international responsibility for supporting adaptation was correspondingly strong.