One USDA Workshops: Tools for Drought Adaptation in Agriculture and Forestry
Overview
The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub, in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust’s Recuperación Agrícola program, developed a series of One USDA drought adaptation workshops to increase farmer capacity to face challenges caused by droughts, extreme events, and climate change. The workshop series also highlighted the initiative of “One USDA” which strengthens collaboration among USDA agencies to better serve land managers across the U.S. and affiliated territories.
The Hub invited USDA agencies to collaborate in the workshops by providing information about practices and assistance programs relevant to climate change and drought. Various representatives from USDA agencies, such as Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Rural Development (RD), collaborated in each workshop.
These workshops highlighted the topic of drought as it is one of the most frequent extreme events faced by Puerto Rican farmers.
Date: May, 2020
Overview: Final report of workshop series on tools for drought adaptation in agriculture and forestry.
Partners: Caribbean Climate Hub, Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, Rural Development, and the Juana Díaz Agricultural Experiment Station.
Improving USDA response to reducing the risks of drought and storms and increasing sustainability in agriculture in the Caribbean
Overview
This is the 2017-2018 USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry summary report on all activities conducted in the interagency agreement between the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub and the Natural Resources Conservation Service Caribbean Area (NRCS Caribbean
Area).
These projects relate to the development and dissemination of environmental information on drought and storm occurrences, and the conservation practices effects to reduce risk to extreme weather. The Caribbean Climate Hub and NRCS Caribbean Area have been cooperating since the creation of the USDA Climate Hubs in 2014.
The report includes a description for accomplishments made possible by the support of this agreement and its collaborators with other Climate Hubs and other Institute projects. We have included copies of the completed products as an appendix to this report. Copies of the products are available by request.
Date: September, 2018
Overview: Final report of activities conducted under the Interagency Agreement between USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry.
Partners: Caribbean Climate Hub and the Natural Resources Conservation Service Caribbean Area.
Caribbean Drought Workshop
Impact, Resilience, and Recovery
Overview
The U.S. Caribbean Drought Workshop was a product of a network-wide initiative by the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center (NCASC) and the regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) that aimed to identify what we know about the impacts of drought on ecosystems across the U.S. and how managers can plan for these impacts and adapt to changing conditions. During the first workshops in the series, it became clear that islands such as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands experience unique challenges related to drought. To delve further into this
topic, NCASC developed two workshops on island drought in 2018, one in Puerto Rico and one in Hawai’i. The scope of these workshops covered the ecological impacts of drought and its impacts to agriculture, water supply and distribution, and other key sectors. The workshop brought together
regional drought experts to identify key threats, challenges, and management solutions related to drought.
Workshop: Caribbean Drought Workshop.
Date: May 30-31, 2018.
Hosts: Caribbean Climate Hub, in collaboration with the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Location: International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Salvaging Wood From Fallen Trees After Hurricanes Irma and Maria Workshop
Overview
The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub and the State and Private Forestry Program of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry of the US Forest Service, held a workshop on November 21, 2017 where more than 80 people gathered to identify the opportunities and resources necessary to take advantage of the wood from fallen trees in Puerto Rico after hurricanes Irma and Maria. Due to the economic and cultural value of tropical timber species, economic activities can be created from the available post-hurricane plant waste. Millions of fallen trees and branches can be processed to produce compost, mulch, coal and biofuels, or raw material for artisans and construction. There is also economic value in the handling of wood materials, the sale of tools and equipment for transporting and processing, and the sale of valuable wood products. In addition, many wood products store carbon indefinitely, mitigating the increase of CO² in the atmosphere. The main need identified during the discussion was the need to act quickly to avoid the burning and disposal of wood materials in landfills across the country.
Workshop: Salvaging Wood From Fallen Trees After Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Date: November 21, 2017.
Hosts: Caribbean Climate Hub and State and Private Forestry.
Location: International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation & Adaptation Workshop
Overview
The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub hosted a workshop in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 22-23, 2015 to communicate USDA strategies for greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation and explore how these strategies interact with regional activities and partner agencies.
The workshop served as a platform to discuss what tools and techniques are currently proving effective in communicating climate science and adaptive practices within Caribbean working lands.
Workshop: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation & Adaptation Workshop
Date: September 22-23, 2015.
Host: USDA Caribbean Climate Hub.
Location: Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
USDA Climate Hub Concept in the Americas
Overview
USDA representatives from the Caribbean, Central America, Southwestern U.S., Washington DC, met with government and non-government delegates from seven countries in Central America to discuss the USDA Regional Climate Hub network.
The workshop enabled international participants to examine the USDA Regional Climate Hub model at the U.S. Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico. The group explored opportunities for institutions to interact with the USDA Hubs and to establish and support similar networks throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Workshop: USDA Climate Hub Concept in the Americas Workshop.
Date: August 18-19, 2015.
Hosts: USDA Caribbean Climate Hub.
Location: International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.
Caribbean Regional Climate Sub Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies
Overview
The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub for Tropical Forestry and Agriculture (CCH) is located at the U.S. Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. The geographic scope of the CCH includes the U.S. Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Culebra and the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John.
The U.S. Caribbean is an integral part of a socially, economically, and ecologically diverse region and we hope that the work of the CCH is relevant to tropical forestry and agriculture throughout the Neotropics. The wider Caribbean includes over 120 major islands and thousands of cays and islets. There are 28 countries and more than 42 million inhabitants. The climate is tropical and the range of agricultural and forestry products reflect the lack of frost, low degree of annual variation in temperature, high spatial and temporal variation in precipitation, frequent drought and storm events, and a combination of high biological diversity and high levels of endemism. However, there is also a range of cosmopolitan flora and fauna resulting from a long history of human commerce and interaction in the region. Much of the Caribbean’s physical geography is comprised of coastal areas and many islands exhibit complex geology and topography. These factors influence soil types and distributions, hydrological processes, and local climate, which in turn affect forestry and agricultural production.
Suggested Citation: Gould: Gould, W.A., S.J. Fain, I.K. Pares, K. McGinley, A. Perry, and R.F. Steele, 2015: Caribbean Regional Climate Sub Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, United States Department of Agriculture, 67 pp.
Follow Us!