The Social and Economic Inequalities of Climate Change Events on the Elderly, Disabled and Homeless Societies in the Caribbean

The are several vulnerable populations experiencing climate change events around the world that continue to threaten the health and well-being of some of the most susceptible populations in our society, such as, the elderly, the disabled, and the homeless. Although there are 100 million homeless people globally, overall, 1.6 billion people live without proper housing. Such hardship implies that this population group might be unable to effectively prepare, respond, and recover from climate change events. In the Caribbean, this group of people is at risk because of the volatile nature of climate change, such as, changing temperatures and catastrophic weather events, which may not be included in the design of mitigation plans. This presents a significant gap, as there is limited information in the literature that highlights the impact that climate change may have on these vulnerable groups existing in the Caribbean. This chapter seeks to fill this gap by discussing the social and economic inequalities that climate change events pose to elderly, disabled, and homeless individuals. By implementing a secondary research methodology, this study finds that in the Caribbean, these groups tend to lack financial and physical resources to respond and recover from climate change events due to their low income and the inequitable and inefficient dissemination of information on climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.