THE BLUDGEONING delivered by hurricanes Irma and Harvey has brought into sharp focus the financing needs of developing countries, and, in particular, those of small-island developing states (SIDS) for adaptation and loss and damage from climate impacts.
“We seem to be entering into a new climate regime and we have to quickly begin to reckon with it. It is the regime of the extreme extreme drought, extreme hurricane, extreme rainfall events. We are not used to dealing with this constant onslaught of extreme and so we need to think about it carefully,” warns respected climate scientist Professor Michael Taylor.
“One of the things we have always been saying is that we may not see more hurricanes, but more intense hurricanes. This fits the kind of pattern we are anticipating from climate change. And as they form, they then quickly develop into category three or four [strengths], so by the time they interact with any land, they are at a very life-threatening stage,” he added.
It signals, Taylor said, the need for a re-look at how SIDS, which are especially susceptible to such events and other threats, including sea level rise, will need to adapt and the funding it will require.
“The infrastructure will need to be designed to withstand the most intense category of hurricanes, and not only a one-off event, but a repeated onslaught. We really have, too, to look at this argument the Caribbean is making for loss and damage, because we are seeing the kind of total devastation taking place which is beyond the powers of any single government to put back together,” the physicist noted.
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