Hurricanes, Oil, and the Future Jamaica Must Not Get Wrong

Jamaica is standing at a crossroads — not the kind that appears dramatically overnight, but the kind that quietly forms over time until one day it becomes impossible to ignore.

Over the past two years alone, the island has faced two major weather events, including Hurricane Melissa, reminders that climate change is no longer an abstract global conversation. It is something we are living through. Roofs have been repaired, roads cleared, businesses reopened, and communities pulled together — as Jamaicans always do.

But beneath the resilience lies a deeper reality: the world is changing, and Jamaica must change with it.

Climate volatility, shifting global politics, rising energy costs, and the uncertain tides of international investment are all shaping the future of economies across the globe. For a small island nation like Jamaica, these forces are not distant storms. They arrive at our doorstep.

Yet at the very moment the country is grappling with rebuilding stronger, another possibility i…