ECLAC dep chief: Category 5 hurricanes may become the norm

Climate resilience is going to have to become an integral part of the future development of the Caribbean, as the effects of climatic events over the last year have cost some territories from 80 to 200 per cent of their gross domestic products, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America (UN ECLAC) has said.

“We have to think of building a climate resilient region,” said Dillon Alleyne ECLAC’s deputy chief for the Caribbean during the organisation’s 2017 report presentation at the UN’s office at Chancery Lane on Thursday.

“Disaster risk assessment and management must become an integral part of every project we undertake in both the public and private sector.”

Dominica and Barbuda — which were all but decimated after being hit by category five Hurricanes Irma and Maria earlier this year — must be rebuilt as green economies that can become a laboratory to the world on climate resilient projects, he said.

As the climate changes, he noted, category five hurricanes — the strongest of these storms — may no longer be exceptional circumstances.

The region, therefore, needs access to low cost, long term lending options.

To finance this climate resilient development, ECLAC has suggested a “debt for climate” swap, proposing that the UN’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) can purchase some of the region’s debt—which is relatively small compared to the rest of the world—and place it in a Caribbean resilience fund, making GCF funds easier to access for Caribbean nations.

Even though Caribbean islands have a high debt to GDP ratio, they are working hard to reduce it, but while debt is falling, the debt burden still makes it hard for them to improve GDP.

This debt swap, ECLAC hopes, will help reduce that debt burden while allowing funds that can be used for projects that can improve GDP.

The region’s economy grew an estimated 0.9 per cent in 2017, ECLAC said, still slow but a slight improvement over 2016’s 0.5 per cent.

Antigua and Barbuda had the highest growth rate in the region, at 4.5 per cent, because Antigua managed to remain relatively unscathed from Irma’s wrath, while Dominica, which faced a direct hit from Maria, contracted to most, by 8.3 per cent.

Suriname and TT, two of the biggest commodities producers, are still in recession, with Suriname’s economy contracting 0.7 per cent, and TT’s 2.3 per cent.