Although blessed, both Cabo Verde and saint Vincent and the Grenadines are alarmingly vulnerable today. Small island nations face similar disadvantages because of their size: a narrow range of resources, excessive dependence on international trade, food imports to respond to poverty, lack of economies of scale for transport investment. Vulnerability to external shocks, isolation and fragility of island ecosystems, high cost of technology imports. In addition, natural disasters and climate change are of special concern to small islands because of their dependence on agriculture and tourism which are particularly vulnerable to natural and environmental disasters.

Thousands of family livelihoods depend on the effects of climate change in the near future in Cabo Verde, like these salt evaporation ponds in Pedra de Lume. Something to remember the next time you’re shaking it over your chips…