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LONDON, April 02, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A growing body of research shows that the worst impacts of climate change are being borne by the most vulnerable nations.
The Commonwealth of Dominica is one of these nations – who due to its geographical location – is now experiencing a higher number of the harshest hurricanes resulting from climate change.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the southwest coast of Dominica on 18 September as a Category 5 hurricane. Windspeeds of 220 mph took the lives of 68 people and decimated 90% of the housing infrastructure and directly impacted 80% of the population.
Power and water supplies were disrupted, and entire crops were destroyed.
With a population of just over 70 000 people, Dominica, classified as a Small Island Developing Nation (SIDS), was declared international humanitarian emergency.
Five days after Hurricane Maria, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Dr the Hon. Roosevelt Skerritt left the frontlines of the devastation to address the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Here, he reminded the nations, especially developed nations, of how small countries like his who had made a very little to no contribution to global warming were on the receiving end of the ferocious impact of climate change.
“Heat is the fuel that supercharges ordinary storms and turns them into a devastating force. In the past we would prepare for one heavy storm a year, now thousands of storms form on a breeze in the mid-Atlantic Ocean and line up to pound us with maximum force.
“We in the Caribbean do not produce greenhouse gases or sulphate aerosols. We do not pollute or overfish. We have made no contribution to global warming that can move the needle, yet we are among the main victims on the war against climate change.”
In 2019, the world’s six largest carbon dioxide emitters together accounted for 51% of the global population and 67% of total CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. Dominica was not on this list.
The U.S. is the…
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