INSIGHTS from Jamaica’s catastrophic experience with Hurricane Melissa will help inform the 2026 edition of the global human development report (HDR) following a landmark consultation convened by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with The University of the West Indies (UWI).

With the 2025 landfall of the Category 5 Hurricane, UNDP’s global HDR team is looking to small island developing states (SIDS) like Jamaica for insights on how the planetary crisis is reshaping social vulnerability and human development.

Qualitative data and strategic recommendations were collected during a recent consultation and thought leaders dialogue convened at the Mona School of Business by The UWI and UNDP — publisher of the HDR for the past 26 years.

Speakers included Dr Kishan Khoday, resident representative, UNDP Multi Country Office in Jamaica; Dr Pedro Conceicao, UNDP Human Development Report Office global director; keynote speaker Professor Dale Webber, Jamaica’s special envoy for climate change, environment, oceans and blue economy; Dr Heather Ricketts, UWI dean, Faculty of Social Sciences; Professor Tannecia Stephenson, UWI deputy dean, Faculty of Science and Technology; Dr David Smith, coordinator of the UWI Institute for Sustainable Development; and Dr Patricia Northover, senior fellow at the UWI Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, among others.

“The 2026 HDR, still in development, aims to ensure the inclusion of reflections and voices from the front lines, examining ways the accelerating planetary emergency is redefining the future of development in contexts like Jamaica, looking to the specific case of Hurricane Melissa,” Dr Khoday stated. He said the dialogue presented a timely opportunity to reflect on how to better align development with planetary health, aiming to move beyond crisis to actions that ensure both people and the planet can thrive together.

TAYLOR… climate action and development policy should go beyond convention to adopt more aspirational approaches that embed nature and resilience.

“This includes measures to move from diagnosis to action, and to implement findings of the upcoming HDR, through guidance of a new UNDP Global Task Force on Nature and Human Development which I serve as a member.”

Dr Conceicao said that the 2026 HDR will craft an aspirational approach to climate resilience, exploring how to reconnect people to nature. He announced that the report will unveil a new Nature-Relationship Index (NRI) which moves beyond tracking environmental harm alone to assessing human-nature relationships as a core dimension of development. Aligned to the NRI analysis, the HDR will identify strategies to ensure that people and planet thrive together.

Professor Michael Taylor, dean of the UWI Faculty of Science and Technology and chair of the UWI Climate Group, said climate action and development policy should go beyond convention to adopt more aspirational approaches that embed nature and resilience, especially following the passage of Hurricane Melissa. He said to achieve this objective, it was important to build on what he called this unique and important window of opportunity to foster systemic change in development.

The thought leaders dialogue also included an overview of issues to be addressed in the upcoming 2026 HDR; and three panel sessions covering issues such as planetary change impacts on poverty and inequality; policies and indicators for development of nature-based solutions, future-proofing recovery and development; and repairing and restoring the relationship between society and nature.

The HDR, one of the world’s foremost reports on human development, is an independent, annual publication commissioned by the UNDP since 1990. The 2026 edition will examine how planetary pressures intersect with health, education, livelihoods, and well-being, and asks how societies can cultivate more constructive, mutually beneficial relationships between people and nature.