Excerpt and Photo from Forbes.com
Once upon a time, I took my family on a Caribbean cruise that docked on the island of Dominica — 290 square miles of rugged mountainous terrain. We circled down and through its rainforest until reaching a splendid waterfall. It’s the only excursion I can recall from that summer trip nearly two decades ago.
Dominica is known as the Caribbean’s nature island — a big mountain emerging from the ocean. Agriculture once dominated the economy, but eco-tourism is now the primary breadwinner: waterfalls, hiking, and bird watching. However, the island sits in the center of a hurricane zone, subjecting it to repeated body slams. Ideally, carbon finance would cover the cost of repairs, although Dominica relies on its national pride and limited federal treasure.
“We always have our fingers crossed,” Dominica’s director of forestry, wildlife, and parks, Minchinton Burton, told me during COP28 in Dubai. “When we have storms and troughs, there is heavy flooding. The storms are becoming more frequent and intense — much different than in the past.”