Last night in Bridgetown Barbados, the Belmopan based Caribbean Community Climate Change Center took center stage at the launch of the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC. The first report was delivered in 1990, and 24 years later, the fifth report finds all climate change indicators in the red zone. Jules Vasquez was in Bridgetown Barbados to find out what needs to be done to arrest climate change and its effect on the small states in the Caribbean:
Jules Vasquez reporting
The Frank Collymore Center in downtown Bridgetown Barbados - in the shadow of the country's towering Central Bank building was the venue for the presentation of the fifth report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - or IPCC as it is known. The event was chaired by Director of the Caribbean Climate Change Center, Belize's Dr. Kenrick Leslie and it carried a tone of urgency:
Leon Charles, Climate Change Professional - Grenada
"The first message from the report is that this is an urgent problem and therefore we need to take action urgently."
Dr. Leonard Nurse. Senior Lecturer - UWI
"There are things that are happening now that we must deal with."
Dr. Kenrick Leslie, Executive Director - CCCCC Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre
"Climate change will know no boundaries."
No boundaries, and according to the report, no easy solutions either.
Selwin Hart, Director, United Nations Secretary-General's Climate Change Support Team
"The reality is that the public political and economical responses to this challenge has fallen woefully short of the demands of science."
And now the science is saying, that while it's not too late, some outcomes are already foretold
Dr. Kenrick Leslie
"We have gone to the point where it is difficult to turn back the clock."
Selwin Hart
"The evidence of increasingly severe impacts of climate change and rising sea levels are evident throughout the Caribbean."
Nigel Romano. Acting Vice-President (Operations), Caribbean Development Bank
"Higher temperatures, changed patterns of precipitation, increased frequency and intensity of hurricanes."
Hon. Denis S. Lowe, M.P.. Minister of Environment and Drainage
"More hot days and extremely hot days, also an increase in night time temperatures as well so that nights are likely to become warmer."
But, while there those grim consequences of climate change are more or less foretold, the speakers also saw opportunity in adversity:
Selwin Hart
"Your viability gives you more authority. Your elevation and action establish your leadership."
Participant
"It is our responsibility as a member of the Caricom community to continue to advance the importance of pursuing a climate resilient development agenda for all Caricom states."
But, in a region where tomorrow is always good enough, timing, urgency is everything:
Selwin Hart
"Climate change is defining issue of our time. It is defining our present, our response will determine, will define our future."
Participant
"There is much work ahead, there is much work to be done and if this work is to be done then it means all hands must be on board."
Dr. Kenrick Leslie
"Our governments have to start take serious actions as if now."
Tomorrow you'll hear what is being done in Belize and later on, we'll tel you about Barbados unique challenge.
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