Bahamas’ Prime Minister Perry Christie warned that “with 80 percent of our land within one metre or five feet of mean sea level, business as usual with regard to climate change threatens the very existence of the Bahamas as we know it.”
This year alone, Hurricane Joaquin left the small-island nation with $ USD100 million in damage, about 10% of the national budget.
Minister Christie added, “after experiencing Hurricane Joaquin where the sea rose and took weeks to recede, it is beyond doubt to us the issue we face with the rise of the sea level. It threatens our very existence.”
The Bahamas and other Small Island Developing States are seeing unprecedented droughts, extreme weather events, accelerating sea level rise and other life threatening impacts and based on the science, more intense impacts are to be expected over time.
With the current global rise in temperature at less than one degree, the Bahamas has experienced more intense storms and flooding.
