Caribbean Islands Brace for Challenges of Climate Change

The Caribbean faces multifacted and worrying ramifications as a result of climate change, according to the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas, who has the primary responsibility for the environment and climate change in the quasi-cabinet of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Douglas stressed that policymakers need to jump into action, as climate change has a dimension to it that is both urgent and existential. Michael Taylor from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) agreed on the need for urgent action by the goverment, but also emphasized the importance of community participation. 

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has identified the Caribbean as one of the most vulnerable regions to be threatened by climate change over the next 30 to 50 years, and will have to deal with increased temperatures, tropical storms, flooded wetlands and coastal lowlands, sea level rise and many more destructive impacts.

Source: Inter Press Service News Agency