The three areas of emphasis of the Blue Community program are:

• Sustainability
• Disaster Reduction & Vulnerability Management
• Economic Development through Eco-Tourism

Scientists have identified a number of vulnerabilities for the Caribbean Island nations and the Gulf of Mexico states from the impacts of climate change.  Some of the major ones include:

• sea level rise
• salt water intrusion in estuaries, 
• risk to mangroves
• increased frequency and/or intensity of hurricanes
• potential new rain patterns jeopardizing water security
• potential reduction of crop production jeopardizing food security
• bleaching of coral reefs jeopardizing both tourism and fishing
• impacts on coastal zone infrastructure due to sea level rise.

The Blue Community program addresses these issues and more.

The Blue Community programs sees these three areas of emphasis as interrelated and that solutions to these challenges work in synergistic ways.