Tonight we continue our look at Monday's launch of the climate change report in Bridgetown, Barbados. We've told you about the major threats posed to the region by climate change, but mostly, we've stayed away from the heavy stuff, the science.
And that's really the basis of the report: that "the scientists consulted have 95% certainty that human activity, by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, has been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century."
And as the speakers discussed at the launching of the report, the real challenge to combatting climate change is reducing those greenhouse gas emissions which come from large countries like the USA, China and India:..
Leon Charles, Climate Change Professional - Grenada
"We have a problem with greenhouse gas emissions, an urgent problem that needs to be address. The rate of increase gas emissions is at its highest in history."
Nigel Romano. Acting Vice-President (Operations), Caribbean Development Bank
"And the rate of climate change and it's a tendon cost are expected to accelerate if the concentration of greenhouse gasses continues to increase."
Priyadarshni Rai - Disaster Management Officer
"If on the other hand emissions continue at present rate, will be reaching the limits of adaptation of more and more places and the humanitarian consequences will be dire."
Nigel Romano
"Therefore the question is not if we will take action, but how."
Leon Charles
"We need very ambitious actions on reducing greenhouse gases."
John Agard, Professor of Tropical Island Ecology
"If you take measures you can reduce the vulnerability and the longer you take before you take action, the cost increases."
Selwin Hart Director, UN Climate Change Support Team
"7 Caribbean countries are among the 10 countries which suffered the highest average highest economic losses from climate related disasters."
And even if greenhouse gas emissions are scaled back dramatically, the report concludes rather dismally, "Whether global society continues to emit greenhouse gases at today's rate, or cuts greenhouse gas emissions sharply now, does not make a big difference in terms of climate impacts in the next few decades."
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