Blue-Green Roofs on Curacao

Exploring the potential of blue-green roofs as a climate adaptation strategy for Curacao

While Curaçao's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions that cause global climate change is negligible, the island suffers significantly as a result of environmental challenges such as intense heatwaves and heavy rainfall. This severely impacts the environmental and living conditions, as well as the physical and psychological well-being of the local community. Enhancing resilience through climate-adaptive innovations in the built environment seems crucial, and blue-green roofs (BGRs) offer an interesting opportunity due to their numerous co-benefits. Nevertheless, there are a number of technical and social barriers that make the implementation of climate adaptation strategies on Curaçao difficult. Moreover, it is not feasible to replicate the design and development process of regions where BGRs are effectively implemented due to substantial differences in environmental, political, and living factors. Curaçao currently lacks knowledge and has limited examples to explore the potential of BGRs as a climate adaptation strategy. Hence, this exploratory research investigates the potential of implementing blue-green roofs as a climate adaptation strategy on Curaçao. This study identified the context of BGR implementation on Curaçao by developing a sociotechnical framework of multi-level aspects, visualising these aspects in system diagrams, and conducting a supplementary multifaceted stakeholder analysis. Following that, insights were gathered through stakeholder interviews conducted during a field visit to the island, using the network of a case study developing a new neighbourhood. This was supplemented by literature review, resulting in a holistic framework on all system dynamics of BGR implementation on Curaçao, including information on various topics, multiple scales, and the involvement of relevant stakeholders. The findings indicate that there are several system dynamics that support the potential of BGR implementation on Curaçao. However, the more pressing results are the system dynamics that are currently limiting this potential. These include safety concerns, minimal effects on stormwater management, and a lack of interest and financial resources from the local community. The findings emphasise that the potential for BGR implementation on Curaçao exists and provide sufficient knowledge and tools to realise this potential. With the exception of the community acceptance and engagement principle, all established principles for BGR implementation on Curaçao can be met by utilising the insights gathered in this study. However, these insights are insufficient to make BGRs an effective stormwater management practice for the island or to gain acceptance from the local community. This study emphasises the importance of conducting further research into these two aspects in the context of climate adaptation strategies before pursuing the potential of BGR implementation on Curaçao.