Climate change adaptation

The Caribbean, which has made only a minor contribution to global climate change, will be on the front line of the risk and damage it will cause. With more hurricanes and more erratic rainfall patterns, rising temperatures and sea levels, and higher costs of imported fuels, the region’s economy and environment are certain to suffer. The damage has the potential to plunge the region into permanent recession, with changing rainfall patterns causing ruin for small farmers, frequent floods destroying some towns, and coral reefs disappearing. An international conference held in June in London considered what needs to be done, who needs to be doing it and who should be paying for it.

Climate change negotiators are still meeting this week in Bonn to try and find a way forward on, amongst many other subjects, climate change mitigation, adaptation and finance. Sources of ‘innovative’ finance, such as taxes on international transport, have been proposed. Might these provide a way to break the deadlock on finance and prove to be sources of significant and stable financing to address the impacts of climate change?

As global leaders look towards another round of climate negotiations in Durban, South Africa this December, the reality is that the poorest and most vulnerable populations in both developed and developing countries are already bearing the costs of climate change.