Optimal Policy Mixes for Disaster Risk Reduction in Small Island Jurisdictions in the Caribbean

As global warming increases and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are still reverberating, Caribbean countries are increasingly turning to Disaster Risk Reduction to minimize the effects of climate hazards and other disasters. Focusing on low lying islands, this research applies a policy mix framework to a comparative case study of two self-governing Caribbean British Overseas Territories, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, and one jurisdiction that shifted from a British Overseas Territory to an independent nation in 1981, Antigua and Barbuda. All three jurisdictions are small island nations, have populations of 100,000 or less, are located in the Atlantic hurricane zone, and are economically dependent on tourism and offshore banking. This exploratory review inventoried hazard- and disaster-related online legislation and other initiatives and identified them as regulatory, economic, or informational instruments. Using an adapted version of Rogge and Reichardt’s policy mix framework, the research evaluated the consistency of policy elements, coherence of policy processes, credibility, and comprehensiveness. Our findings show that all three jurisdictions continue to favour information instruments over financial or regulatory ones, while the relative success of the Cayman Islands in meeting the challenges of the pandemic suggest more formal policies will produce better outcomes.