{"id":13803,"date":"2016-11-04T17:50:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/the-caribbean-land-of-extreme-sunshine-or-extreme-hurricanes\/"},"modified":"2016-11-04T17:50:53","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T21:50:53","slug":"the-caribbean-land-of-extreme-sunshine-or-extreme-hurricanes","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/the-caribbean-land-of-extreme-sunshine-or-extreme-hurricanes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caribbean: Land of Extreme Sunshine or Extreme Hurricanes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan raged through my parent\u2019s homeland of Grenada. The powerful Category 5 storm devastated the tiny island and left 60% of the country\u2019s 100,000 residents homeless.<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[i]<\/a> Located just north of Venezuela, Grenada usually escaped the Caribbean late summer storm season because it fell below the region\u2019s hurricane zone. However, scientists believe that climate change has contributed to increased hurricane intensity in the Caribbean since 1995, leaving countries such as Grenada particularly vulnerable. As climate change continues, scientific models expect hurricane activity to further intensify in coming years.<a href=\"#_edn2\" name=\"_ednref2\">[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Island nations such as Grenada view climate change as an economic and existential crisis. Over half of all Caribbean residents live within 1.5 kilometres of the coast.<a href=\"#_edn3\" name=\"_ednref3\">[iii]<\/a> Climate change threatens these islands\u2019 marine and coastal ecosystems, fresh water supplies, and shorelines. Such damage would severely impact the tourism, agriculture and forestry sectors.<a href=\"#_edn4\" name=\"_ednref4\">[iv]<\/a> Thus Caribbean countries worked together to create the non-profit organization \u201cCaribbean Community Climate Change Centre\u201d (CCCCC) to coordinate the region\u2019s climate change action plan. \u00a0Since 2005, the CCCCC has initiated over twenty projects to address issues such as educating citizens on how to stay safe during extreme weather and designing strategies to make the islands more resilient to the effects of climate change.<a href=\"#_edn5\" name=\"_ednref5\">[v]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the CCCCC\u2019s most promising ongoing projects is its \u201cCoastal Protection for Climate Change Adaptation in the Small Island States in the Caribbean\u201d. \u00a0The project provides funding to support the protection, sustainable management and rehabilitation of coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs, in the small island states of Saint Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica. This work is needed because the Caribbean Sea\u2019s increasing water temperate and acidity have negatively affected the region\u2019s coral reefs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, as climate change intensifies, coral reefs become more critical to the region\u2019s survival. Scientists believe that these ecosystems may mitigate the impact of extreme weather by protecting islands from wave action and storm surges.<a href=\"#_edn6\" name=\"_ednref6\">[vi]<\/a> A Stanford research team concluded that \u201ccoral reefs reduce wave energy by an average of 97 percent, dissipating disproportionately more wave energy as wave energy increased.\u201d<a href=\"#_edn7\" name=\"_ednref7\">[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Coastal Protection project would attempt to strengthen coastal reefs by both 1) limiting local pollution and coastal development and 2) actively restoring reefs that have become too damaged to recover naturally.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Focusing on restoring reefs is a good use of the CCCCC\u2019s resources. Reefs are proven to mitigate the impact of extreme weather on coastal locations and are cost effective to restore. The Stanford study estimated restoration projects to cost $1,290 per meter.<a href=\"#_edn8\" name=\"_ednref8\">[viii]<\/a> This work pays back handsomely. A 2008 study estimated the value of \u201cpotential avoided damages\u201d (i.e. costs that are avoided because coral reefs protect against hurricanes and floods) at $18-33mm and $28-50mm for the Caribbean islands of Tobago and St. Lucia, respectively. \u00a0These are significant amounts given the small size of these economies: $286mm for Tobago and $825mm for St. Lucia.<a href=\"#_edn9\" name=\"_ednref9\">[ix]<\/a> Rehabilitating the coral reefs would also boost tourism, one of the region\u2019s economic drivers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The CCCCC should continue to pursue projects that try to reduce the impact of climate change. I would argue for increased spending on technology to limit the impact of waves crashing on shore, including spending more money on building artificial seawalls. The Stanford study estimated the cost of artificial breakwaters at $19,791 per meter \u2013 much higher than the comparable $1,290 needed to restore natural coral reefs.<a href=\"#_edn10\" name=\"_ednref10\">[x]<\/a> In addition to the cost, some critics of artificial breaks have noted the lifelessness of the \u201cgrey infrastructure\u201d and the fact that they don\u2019t improve the surrounding ecosystems as natural coral reefs do.<a href=\"#_edn11\" name=\"_ednref11\">[xi]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Despite these criticisms, the CCCCC should continue exploring all available alternatives given the immense security and economic value in protecting coastal shorelines.<\/p>\n<p>Word count: 746<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[i]<\/a> International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socities. http:\/\/www.ifrc.org\/en\/news-and-media\/news-stories\/americas\/grenada\/help-on-its-way-for-hurricane-devastated-grenada\/<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\" name=\"_edn2\">[ii]<\/a> \u201cTHE ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CARIBBEAN,\u201d CARIBBEAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT VOLUME III. 8 December 2011.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref3\" name=\"_edn3\">[iii]<\/a> http:\/\/www.caribbeanclimate.bz\/ongoing-projects\/2014-2019-coastal-protection-for-climate-change-adaptation-in-the-small-island-states-in-the-caribbean-kfw.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref4\" name=\"_edn4\">[iv]<\/a> \u201cThe economics of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean.\u201d United Nations. February 2015.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref5\" name=\"_edn5\">[v]<\/a> http:\/\/www.caribbeanclimate.bz\/about-us\/about-us.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref6\" name=\"_edn6\">[vi]<\/a> http:\/\/www.caribbeanclimate.bz\/ongoing-projects\/2014-2019-coastal-protection-for-climate-change-adaptation-in-the-small-island-states-in-the-caribbean-kfw.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref7\" name=\"_edn7\">[vii]<\/a> \u201cCoral reefs provide protection from storms and rising sea levels, Stanford research finds.\u201d Stanford Report. May 13, 2014. http:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news\/2014\/may\/coral-reef-protect-051314.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref8\" name=\"_edn8\">[viii]<\/a> \u201cCoral reefs provide protection from storms and rising sea levels, Stanford research finds.\u201d Stanford Report. May 13, 2014. http:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news\/2014\/may\/coral-reef-protect-051314.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref9\" name=\"_edn9\">[ix]<\/a> \u201cCoastal Capital \u2013\u00a0 Economic Valuation of Coral Reefs in Tobago and St. Lucia\u201d Lauretta Burke, Suzie Greenhalgh, Daniel Prager and Emily Cooper. Final Report &#8211; June, 2008<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref10\" name=\"_edn10\">[x]<\/a> \u201cCoral reefs provide protection from storms and rising sea levels, Stanford research finds.\u201d Stanford Report. May 13, 2014. http:\/\/news.stanford.edu\/news\/2014\/may\/coral-reef-protect-051314.html<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref11\" name=\"_edn11\">[xi]<\/a> http:\/\/www.caribjournal.com\/2014\/06\/13\/rebuilding-caribbean-coral-reefs\/#<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To save its member island states, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre must protect the region from increasingly severe extreme weather. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1951,"featured_media":13804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1956,1218,1800,1957],"class_list":["post-13803","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caribbean","category-climate-change","category-hurricanes","category-island"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Caribbean: Land of Extreme Sunshine or Extreme Hurricanes? 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