Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited
Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 15A
Paper Date: Wed, Apr 4, 2001
Byline: by Terry Ally
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Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited |
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THE withdrawal of the United States from a global climate change pact could have disastrous consequences for the economies of Barbados and the Caribbean. As a result, local and regional climate change experts are today urging regional Governments to move swiftly to implement measures to cope with anticipated impacts.
Ideally, every building should be moved back from the coastline but that is impractical and expensive so they are urging that adaptation measures should be devised to cope with the anticipated impacts which include increasing and higher storm surge, drinking water shortages, economic loss because of more ferocious cyclones, and damage to coastal infrastructure like hotels, power plants, medical care facilities, police stations, drinking water wells, homes and businesses.
Dr. Neville Trotz, of the Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC), and Barbados' lead negotiator Dr. Leonard Nurse, said that the United States' withdrawal from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has left the pact tottering on the brink of collapse. That is because the United States is the world's biggest polluter and without it on board, global warming will continue to spiral.
The agreement committed industrialised countries to reduce global warming gases to 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
The Clinton administration was committed to reductions but disagreed on the method which lead to the collapse of The Hague talks last November while the Bush Administration decided to diss the pact altogether. Trotz said he was shocked at the "extreme reaction" of the United States which he considered to be a "selfish, short-sighted, highly immoral, and vulgar development" fuelled by the oil industry lobby.
Nurse said it was a "most unfortunate development" and "retrograde step" which brings into question the real seriousness with which the United States had negotiated and raises issues about the fate of the implementation of the protocol. While he believed it was still possible to get the numbers required to ratify the protocol, he also firmly believed that Barbados had to change its work plan urgently.
"We have to move full steam ahead at the domestic level (because) this development tells us that the processes related to adaptation are far more urgent than we have been treating them before."
Nurse said Barbados should focus on increasing and higher storm surges, increasing coastal land loss as a consequence of sea level rise, saline intrusion into coastal ground water aquifers, and the threat to coastal infrastructure as a result of increasing wave lengths as priority issues.
Trotz also said Caribbean countries needed to
implement better management of their drinking water supplies, practising
conservation, recycling, and desalination, as well as capturing storm run-off to
recharge aquifers. He also suggested urgent implementation of enforceable
building codes which were robust enough to withstand that 1:100 year storm which
experts said was due through the region any day now.
WIND power is blowing away Pennsylvania while
California is warming up to solar power according to recent press reports.
The wind is blowing wealth and power across Pennsylvania. Representatives of a
consortium of private companies, non-profit organisations and public agencies
have confirmed plans to build a new 15-megawatt wind farm in Fayette County.
In California, solar power is gaining mainstream appeal. It's an expensive
alternative, as much as US$20 000 for a system that powers a 2 000-square foot
home but consumers craving energy autonomy say it's worth the price as shiny,
blue-tinged panels increasingly dot rooftops in southern California which have
been subject to blackouts.
Graeme Hall - new name, new look
The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary has been reopened to visitors following the completion of boardwalks, an observation hut, and an observation deck that reaches out into the main lake.
Construction of the main sanctuary facilities has been delayed pending approval from the Ministry of Finance. When completed, these will include the construction of an education centre, two large walk-through aviaries, support facilities, and subsequent development of comprehensive educational and interpretative programmes. Sanctuary officials are awaiting clearance from the Ministry of Finance for special area development status under the Special Development Areas Act.
In addition, the name of the project has been changed from Graeme Hall Bird Sanctuary to Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary to reflect the wishes of many environmentalists and staff who wish to foster holistic environmental management of the site. The resident and migratory birds that frequent the swamp are an important focus for the creation of the sanctuary, but they are only one component of a complex ecosystem. Current efforts by the sanctuary to preserve the complete swamp ecosystem will ensure that the last major coastal mangrove and sedge swamp left in Barbados is maintained for future generations. (GHNS)