“Caribbean running out of time to adapt for climate change,” says new research

By BBN staff: A new research paper, done by Caribbean experts, says that the region is running out to time to prepare for when global temperatures are warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The paper, “Future Caribbean Climates in a World of Rising Temperatures: the 1.5 vs 2.0 Dilemma” written by Professors from the University of west Indies (UWI) Jamaica and Barbados campuses, says that the region has less than 15 years to prepare for the environmental changes that come with global temperatures warming at the 1.5 degrees Celsius rate, and the years to follow where global warming will exceed that threshold.

In the research findings, the researchers noted that the warming rate of 1.5 degrees Celsius will bring about significant changes to the environment within the Caribbean; however those changes are more desirable than the changes predicted for warming above the 1.5 degree threshold. Those effects are expected to hit island Caribbean nations, as well as Belize, which also forms a part of mainland Central America.

“Agreeing to 1.5 degrees Celsius as a global limit still represents a concession to some degree of changes in the climatic regime of the Caribbean and the associated impacts those climatic shifts will bring,” the researchers said. “In a 1.5 degrees Celsius future in comparison to the present, the Caribbean will be warmer with longer warm spells and longer hot and dry spells and will experience moderate to extreme drought approximately 16 per cent of the time,” they added.
The research was done through a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank and funding from the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience funded by the Inter-American Development Bank.

Climate Change remains remains a high priority for most member countries of the United Nations, particularly those that are already feeling the effects of Climate Change. Belize, a member of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) group has been doing its part in the global fight against Climate Change, by setting ambitious targets for lowering of carbon emissions.

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