Resources for Further Learning

This page is dedicated to providing scholarly articles on the topics of ecology and sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is not an exhaustive list, but should give more advanced learners a place to begin research and spark intrigue. 

If you have written or know of a professional work that you would like to see included on this page, please email  clacs@ku.edu.

Scholarly Articles

  • The Study of Ecology in Latin America and the Caribbean | Megan Raby

    Fieldwork in Latin America and the Caribbean has played a major role in the development of the modern science of ecology––the study of organisms’ relationships with one another and the physical environment. Despite their historic importance, field studies in Latin America and the Caribbean remain significantly underrepresented in ecology in the early 21st century.

  • Loss of Coral Reef Growth Capacity to Track future Increases in Sea Levels| | P…

    Sea-level rise (SLR) is predicted to elevate water depths above coral reefs and to increase coastal wave exposure as ecological degradation limits vertical reef growth, but projections lack local reef growth-sea level interaction data. Here we calculate the vertical growth potential of >200 Tropical Western Atlantic and Indian Ocean reefs, and compare these against recent and projected rates of SLR under different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios.

  • CLIMATE-FRAGILITY RISK BRIEF: The Caribbean | Carlos Fuller et al.

    The Caribbean region is considered to be relatively peaceful and politically stable, but highly vulnerable to direct and indirect impacts of climate change. Caribbean countries, most of which are small-island developing states (SIDS), have long suffered from the destructive impacts of natural hazards, including hurricanes, severe weather events, drought and sea level rise. Climate change is projected to make them worse; rising temperatures and an increase in flooding risks are anticipated. Tropical cyclones are becoming more frequent and intense.

Resources

  • Restoring the Caribbean To The Paradise It Used To Be | UN Environmental Program

    When people think of the Caribbean, it’s the turquoise seas, clean beaches, coral reefs teeming with fish, turtles and balmy breezes that come to mind. Increasingly however, the reality does not live up to expectations—we may arrive at the seashore to find it covered with sargassum, the water cloudy and brown, and the horizon covered in trash; the coral reefs may look faded and tired and with barely enough fish to count on one hand.

  • Social and Environmental Challenges Post Covid19: Latin America and the Amazoni…

    This session gives light to the social and environmental aspects of Covid19 impacts in LAC and in Amazonia Region, providing inputs on how the private sector, UN and Governments can address the main challenges on people and planet. The debate will reflect on how this crisis is affecting the most vulnerable population in the region and will provide insights to a possible roadmap to the economic recovering in LAC and Amazonia Region focus on tacking inequality and the climate emergency.

  • Environmental Governance Indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean

    The Environmental Governance Indicators for Latin America and the Caribbean© represent the first-ever cross-country assessment of how environmental governance functions in practice. This quantitative assessment tool measures the state of environmental governance in 10 countries in the region: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Jamaica, Peru, and Uruguay.

  • Caribbean Marine Maps

    We now have a clear picture of the habitats found beneath the waves of the Caribbean. These revolutionary maps will help guide the sustainable use and protection of marine resources for island nations in which 60% of living coral has been lost in the past few decades alone.