Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises contribute an estimated 90% of employment and 70% of the GDP of Caribbean countries.[vc_separator el_position="last"] [vc_row] [vc_column] [vc_column_text el_position="first"]
The cost for Latin America to adapt to a 2°C warmer world from 2010-2050 could cost between US$16.8 – US$21.5 billion per year (World Bank, 2009).[/vc_column_text] [vc_separator el_position="last"] [/vc_column] [/vc_row] [vc_row] [vc_column] [vc_column_text el_position="first"]
According to the World Resources Institute Caribbean coral reefs alone generate between US$3.1 and US$4.6 billion across the Caribbean annually from fisheries, tourism and shoreline protection.[/vc_column_text] [vc_separator el_position="last"] [/vc_column] [/vc_row] [vc_row] [vc_column] [vc_column_text el_position="first"]
Studies have shown that the biomass of fish inside a reserve can increase by between 2 to 21 times from its original level[/vc_column_text] [vc_separator el_position="last"] [/vc_column] [/vc_row] [vc_row] [vc_column] [vc_column_text el_position="first"]
Half the world’s population lives within 100 km of a marine shoreline.[/vc_column_text] [vc_separator el_position="last"] [/vc_column] [/vc_row] [vc_row] [vc_column] [vc_row_inner el_position="first"] [vc_column_inner width="1/2"] [vc_message color="alert-info" el_position="first last"]
- 80% of the human activities that threaten coasts occur on the land
- 50% of the world’s coasts are threatened by development
- 40% of coral reefs have been lost or degraded
- 80% of monitored beaches are eroding
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Now you don’t know when to plant and when not to not plant. When you’re waiting for rain, you’re not getting rain. When you’re waiting for sun, you’re not getting sun. The weather [changed].
Farmer
St Lucia
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Marine protected areas account for less than 0.05% of coasts & oceans[vc_separator el_position="last"] Sea level rise will continue for centuries after 2100, even if global temperatures are stabilized at 2.0 °C or 2.5°C[vc_separator el_position="last"]
Caribbean countries, as a group, contribute only small amounts to global greenhouse gas emissions, however, seven of the fifteen countries still generate 100% of their electricity from fossil fuels.[vc_separator el_position="last"] Belize and Dominica produce more than 30% of electricity from renewable energy (mainly hydro) and Suriname produces 95% of its electricity from hydro.[vc_separator el_position="last"]
Already some 300,000 deaths per year are being attributed to climate change and this is expected to rise to half a million per year globally by 2020[i].[vc_separator el_position="last"] In the Caribbean, tourism resorts would be at risk of flooding from just a 1 metre rise in sea-level
[ii] and many more would have their infrastructure eroded.[vc_separator el_position="last"]
26 out of the Caribbean region’s 73 airports would be at risk from inundation with a 1 metre sea level rise[iii].[vc_separator el_position="last"] In Africa, between 25 and 40 per cent of mammal species in national parks in sub-Saharan Africa will become endangered as a result of climate change.[vc_separator el_position="last"]
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- Optimum beach tourism conditions for European tourists are 27oC to 32oC
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- The Caribbean accounts for just 0.2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions while having 0.6 per cent of the world’s population
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- About 40,000 solar home systems are being installed per month in Bangladesh
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- Around 30,000 solar home systems are installed every year in Kenya
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- The likely costs to the Caribbean’s tourism sector from global inaction on climate change could range from US400 million to US$2billion by 2025 (Bueno, Herzfeld, Stanton, & Ackerman, 2008).
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- In the Caribbean more than half of the population lives within 1.5 km of the shoreline (Mimura et al., 2007).
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- Most of Barbados’ infrastructure, government, health and commercial facilities lie along various portions of the 97 km coastline which include low-lying and highly erodible shore areas that are particularly susceptible to sea level rise.
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[ii] Rahmstorf, S. (2007) A semi-empirical approach to protecting future sea-level rise.
Science 315 (5810), 368-370.
[iii] Simpson, M.C., Scott, D., Harrison, M., Silver, N., O’Keeffe, E., Harrison, S., Taylor, M., Lizcano, G., Rutty, M., Stager, H., Oldham, J., Wilson, M., New, M., Clarke, J. , Day, O.J., Fields, N., Georges, J., Waithe, R., McSharry, P. (2010)
Quantification and magnitude of losses and damages resulting from the impacts of climate change: Modelling the transformational impacts and costs of sea level rise in the Caribbean. United Nations Development Programme, Barbados.
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