Climate-related disasters are destroying precious records. At next week’s Commonwealth summit, King Charles can show his support for their protection

Quacou, Hankey, Cuffee, Fatima, Fanny Ibo and Quamina. These are the names of African people enslaved on the Caribbean island of Grenada, inscribed in the colonial slave registers of the 1830s. They tell a story of inhumanity, brutality and human endurance. Yet this painful history is at risk of being lost for ever.

In July, Hurricane Beryl destroyed everything in its path, including the museum on Grenada’s sister island, Carriacou. The same month, a fire at Barbados’s Archives Department destroyed historical documents from the colonial era – including vestry and hospital records. Officials revealed afterwards that they had been in the process of securing a fire-suppression system for the archives.