A region on the frontline
Tourism is the economic backbone of the Eastern Caribbean, sustaining livelihoods, driving foreign exchange, and showcasing the region’s natural and cultural wealth. Yet this dependence comes with heightened vulnerability. Rising seas, stronger hurricanes, extreme heat, and ecosystem degradation are already threatening tourism’s foundations – from beaches and reefs to water security and visitor arrivals. Without decisive action, climate change could undo decades of progress.
Against this backdrop, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has positioned tourism not only as a sector at risk, but as a driver of resilience and innovation. Its new Climate Action Plan for Tourism (CAP), developed in 2024–2025 with technical support from the Travel Foundation, marks a bold step in aligning climate and tourism strategies to protect communities, economies, and ecosystems.
Aims of the plan
The CAP sets out five strategic objectives that cut across adaptation, mitigation, and governance:
- Strengthening risk assessment and resilience in the tourism sector.
- Protecting and restoring nature as the foundation of the visitor economy.
- Improving emissions tracking and monitoring.
- Accelerating decarbonisation and circular practices.
- Mobilising climate-smart finance for tourism enterprises and infrastructure.
Together, these objectives are designed to halve tourism-related emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and ensure that tourism contributes positively to biodiversity, community wellbeing, and regional resilience.
The plan builds on tourism and adaptation plans and was born out of a joint mandate from the OECS Council of Ministers for Environmental Sustainability and the Council of Ministers for Tourism. It was made possible through funding from the EU-funded Biospace Project
How the Travel Foundation supported the process
The Travel Foundation supported the OECS in designing the CAP through its four-phase climate action planning methodology, tailored to the Caribbean context. This approach ensured technical rigour, strong evidence, and inclusive participation and placed climate justice and community leadership at the plan’s core.
- Baseline analysis – where are we now? – identified sector emissions, climate risks, and policy gaps.
- Vision-setting – where do we want to go? – brought environment and tourism ministries from Member States together to co-develop strategic objectives.
- Action design – how will we get there? – involved stakeholders in prioritising feasible, high-impact actions.
- Drafting and validation – Member States reviewed and refined the plan, ensuring alignment with national and regional frameworks.
By modelling collaboration across ministries, Member States, communities, and businesses, the process itself built the partnerships that will be critical for implementation.
What the plan delivers
The OECS’s Climate Action Plan offers a roadmap that balances urgency with practicality. It combines ambitious long-term goals with tangible near-term actions such as: regional training for tourism operators on disaster preparedness, community-led mangrove restoration, food-waste-to-compost pilots, and tools for tracking tourism emissions.
Key strengths include:
- Cross-sector ownership: from the outset, both environment and tourism ministers mandated the plan, avoiding siloed approaches.
- Community leadership: local voices shaped adaptation measures, ensuring the plan reflects lived realities.
- Integration with global commitments: alignment with the Glasgow Declaration, NDCs, and the Paris Agreement positions the OECS as a leader among small island developing states (SIDS).
- Focus on finance and feasibility: prioritisation tools and enabling actions lay the groundwork for investment and delivery.
“The strength of this initiative lies in the way it was created, grounded in evidence, informed by community voices, co-owned across ministries, and aligned with both regional strategies and global climate goals. This is exactly the kind of systemic change we need.”
Jeremy Sampson, CEO, Travel Forward
Lessons for other destinations
For other small island regions, plus other DMOs and NTOs, the OECS CAP demonstrates that climate-smart tourism planning is both possible and essential.
Key takeaways include:
- Anchor climate action in cross-ministerial mandates to ensure ownership.
- Use participatory processes to build legitimacy and shared responsibility.
- Combine technical evidence with community knowledge to design robust actions.
- Embed monitoring, financing, and governance from the start to move from policy to practice.
With aligned leadership, bottom-up engagement, and sustained investment, the sector can become a catalyst for resilience.
