During the second term of the 2024/2025 Academic Year, Cari-Bois partnered with the Scotiabank Foundation to empower ten (10) students with climate journalism skills as part of the third edition of Cari-Bois’ Youth Journalism Project. For their second assignment, students wrote an article about the relationship between climate change and natural disasters. This story was written by Salisha Nebblett of Waterloo Secondary School.
When Trinidad and Tobago experiences natural disasters like droughts and flooding, these events can affect the country’s economy, infrastructures, and livelihoods.
Traditionally, Trinidad and Tobago has a rainy season which runs from June to December.
But in recent years, there have been changes to these seasons with rainfall patterns becoming more irregular.
In some years, there are prolonged drought conditions while in others, there is widespread flooding that exceeds annual averages.
For example, Trinidad and Tobago experienced devastating floods in the rainy season of 2022 while the country experienced an unprecedented heat wave in August 2023 during what was supposed to be the rainy season.
Extended droughts or dry conditions reduce water availability, which in turn impacts food production and even fluctuations in prices.
The Trinidad and Tobago Weather Centre’s website reported that the country experienced five notable flooding events between 2017 and 2018.
These floods caused widespread damage to communities, infrastructure, and agriculture .
On the flipside, Trinidad and Tobago has had to implement water rationing methods over the past several years due to prolonged periods of droughts and drought-like conditions.
In an article titled WASA warns of water shortages, that was published in the Trinidad Express in March 2025, Director of Water Management Services for Tobago, Brian Williams, said Tobago had a 14 percent reduction in the available amount of water when he made comments at a news conference on March 8 at the Caroni Water Treatment Plant in Piarco.
The effects of a changing climate doesn’t only include dangers that are visible to the human eye but also those that aren’t.
Vector-borne diseases like dengue fever can thrive with increased rainfall.
Authorities and stakeholders must take steps to adapt and lessen the effects of climate change on water availability by implementing strategies that could boost water management systems, harvest rainwater and support irrigation.
Hosting public awareness sessions that encourages people to adopt sustainable practices like conserving water is also important to becoming resilient especially in times of extreme drought.
A very special thank you to the Scotiabank Foundation for supporting the development of young people through initiatives like the Cari-Bois Youth Journalism Project.
