THE HAGUE – Curaçao will be explicitly included in a new Dutch scientific review of climate responsibility within the Kingdom, marking an important expansion from climate assessments that have often concentrated primarily on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.
The Scientific Climate Council (WKR) has included “Climate and the Kingdom” among the major advisory projects in its 2026–2027 work program.
The project will examine the position of all six Caribbean islands within the Kingdom: Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. The council says all six are increasingly confronted with the consequences of climate change.
The distinction is important because the constitutional relationships are different.
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are public entities of the Netherlands, while Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten are autonomous countries within the Kingdom. That makes the question of Dutch responsibility for climate adaptation more politically and constitutionally complicated in Curaçao.
The Climate Council acknowledges that complication directly. It says there is no consensus in Dutch politics about the Netherlands’ role or responsibility in protecting particularly the three Caribbean countries against the consequences of climate change.
The council is not limiting its study to the physical effects of climate change. It will also examine how climate cooperation within the Kingdom should be organized.
That could prove significant for Curaçao, where large-scale climate adaptation projects can require substantial financial resources and long-term planning.
According to the WKR, the present system already presents problems. Dutch assistance is frequently temporary, fragmented or provided on an ad hoc basis. As a result, the islands lack certainty and may have difficulty regarding the Netherlands as a reliable long-term partner for climate resilience.
The council warns that the absence of clear arrangements also creates uncertainty over funding and over which government is responsible for particular tasks. According to the report, this lack of clarity contributes to delays in Caribbean climate policy.
The new study therefore goes beyond asking what Curaçao and the other islands need to do to adapt. It asks a more fundamental Kingdom-level question: what responsibility does the Netherlands itself have?
The council intends to determine what possibilities the Netherlands has to contribute to climate resilience throughout the Kingdom and what forms of cooperation would be appropriate.
The issue also fits into a broader shift in the council’s work toward climate adaptation. The WKR says it considers both reducing climate change through mitigation and dealing with its consequences through adaptation part of its mandate.
Climate and biodiversity will also receive separate attention in the 2026–2027 program. The council notes that rapidly rising temperatures can damage ecosystems and increase risks including land degradation, while healthy and biodiverse ecosystems can strengthen resilience against climate extremes through functions such as water regulation and cooling.
That broader discussion is particularly relevant to Curaçao, where climate resilience, nature protection, coastal development and economic interests such as tourism increasingly intersect.
The WKR has not yet announced a publication date for its final advice on Climate and the Kingdom. Its conclusions, however, could help determine whether future Dutch support for Curaçao moves away from temporary projects toward a more clearly defined and structural climate partnership.