Hydromet conference focuses on climate change

Dec 02, 2008 News

The 48th Meeting of the Caribbean Meteorological Council of Ministers continued yesterday at the International Conference Centre, where a call was made for greater collaboration among the Caribbean region in order to respond to climate change.
The conference commenced on Thursday last, and will officially conclude today.
In delivering the feature address at the meeting, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud said that the issues of climate change and weather services are critical to the survival of the people in the various sectors, especially for countries like Guyana, as it is vital for food security, national security, and even economic viability.
Minister Persaud said that the meeting must focus on what their individual states and organisations can do to support the efforts being made to mitigate the effects of climate change. He noted that effective coordination and collaboration are lacking in the region in terms of its position in dealing with the issues of climate change and its effects.
This is the main reason, Persaud said, why the meeting should look at specific areas in order to support the region’s response to the issue, so that the framework coming out of the talks can assist them in supporting their measures that are needed in preparing adequately for the effects of climate change.
“This is where weather and climate services are very important, because if we are going to take the necessary adaptation measures and interventions, climate and weather information is very, very crucial in this regard; and we need to see the linkage in this area,” Minister Persaud said.
He added that, increasingly, more persons across the region are recognising the importance of weather and climate services, and as such, the meeting comes at a time when the growing demands or expectations of the weather services of the region are increasing.
Persaud once again reiterated that climate change is one of the greatest threats to man’s survival, and, as such, the Caribbean Meteorological Organisation (CMO) needs to look at how it can support the region’s response to climate change, since the Caribbean has already felt the impact.
“And we all know, based on the ICCC and other assessments, the effects of climate change will not improve. Notwithstanding the attempts by some to take measures to reduce the contributing factors to climate change, the reality is that the effects will perhaps be much more brutal in the coming period,” Persaud noted.
Assistant Secretary General of Human and Social Development of CARICOM, Dr. Edward Greene, told the gathering that lots have been achieved under the CMO. He pointed out that, over the years, it has provided the region with important information as it relates to weather services.
“The Met services provided at both national and regional levels are critical to the identification and tracking of natural disasters, particularly hurricanes in the region,” Dr. Greene said.
He also called for closer collaboration and greater coordination between agencies involved in developmental activities at the national and regional levels in tackling the issue of climate change.
In delivering the vote of thanks at the ceremony, Dominica’s Minister of Tourism and Legal Affairs, Eon Douglas, stated that the single most serious threat that they face in the Caribbean is from natural disasters especially hurricanes, which he noted leave millions of dollars in damages and, as such, threaten the development of island states.
“So it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to come together and bring our efforts together to ensure that we can mitigate and protect our citizens and our islands as much as we possibility can within our powers against natural disasters,” Minister Douglas said.
He also explained that each and every development is being undermined severely on a constant basis by these natural disasters, and as such, no one country can do it on its own.

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Hydromet conference focuses on climate change

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