Dear Editor,
Mitigating climate risks (in our case hurricanes and flooding) and building resilience against extreme weather events will be the key buzz words for 2018 for country Sint Maarten.
Considerable investments will have to be made into “building back better” against the backdrop of the unprecedented climate disaster events which struck the Caribbean in September 2017.
The Kingdom Government’s reconstruction fund of 550 million Euros would allow country Sint Maarten to rebuild and recover from the September 6 damages caused by Hurricane Irma along with monies from the insurance sector.
We must also use the opportunity now to look ahead and beyond the Dutch Reconstruction Fund. Climate change is an on-going global event. Based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 23), the 180+ signatories have agreed to implement their intended Nationally Determined Contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, with the objective to limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius which is critical for human survival.
The international community of nations have committed US $100 billion annually to assist developing countries in their adaptation and mitigation efforts. At the recent COP 23 conference held in Germany this month, the Alliance for Small Island States (AOSIS) reminded conference delegates about Small Island Developing States (SIDs) vulnerabilities and the scale of devastation caused by the regional hurricanes, and how efforts need to be scaled up in order for the islands to adapt to and recover from the impact of global climate change.
As the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season comes to an end on November 30, the 2018 season as of Friday, December 1, will be six months away.
Adaptation and mitigation investments are necessary now more than ever. For example, Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm slammed into the US state of Texas in August, killing more than 80 people, triggering historic rainfall in parts of Houston, and caused approximately US $180 billion in damage.
Texas has outlined proposed infrastructure improvements and upgrades to the tune of US $61 billion that would “future proof” before the next great storm. Projects identified for future proofing are to combat flooding (new water reservoirs and dike systems), reinforced sea walls and the construction of a physical barrier to better protect the Gulf coast; buy out homes in flood-prone areas, road projects, and hazard mitigation.
Rebuilding a climate-resilient Sint Maarten nation will be good news for foreign investors, which will be needed in the years and decades to come. The aforementioned is a key ingredient to growing our economy which contributes to employment opportunities, government revenues and much more.
The Chief Environment Officer of Antigua & Barbuda D. Black-Layne, during a recent lecture in the federation, said the two islands are in for a rough investment period in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The environment officer said there was a reason why there was little movement on a number of investments which had been identified since 2014.
“Why is that? It’s not because Antigua is not a great place to invest, it’s just that the financial sector has taken a pause, and they’ve put down over six trillion dollars on their savings account, doing absolutely nothing with it. Because they realised that their portfolios now would be exposed.”
Black-Layne says foreign investors are paying closer attention to climate risks associated with doing business in the Caribbean due to extreme weather which is now becoming the new normal.
“The investors and their corporations are now looking to see if a hotel is being built anywhere in Antigua and Barbuda. You can download a map from the NOAA website (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and you can do a simulation to see what would be the impact of sea level rise. So they do that themselves and if they see that there will be a little bit of impact, they cannot get insurance and they will not be able to invest.”
Investments that will be made on Sint Maarten in 2018 and going forward in physical infrastructure is a critical area that must be well adapted if we, as a country, are to be climate-change resilient. Our buildings and critical infrastructure (hospital, electricity and water production, port, airport, and telecommunications) as well as critical economic infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, and other tourism-oriented businesses) must be able to withstand the forces of nature.
Investments in the above will address investor jitters and they would feel more secure if such investments are being made for the community good. Making Sint Maarten resilient to climate change involves everybody, from the homeowner down the street or up the hill to the corner grocer. Our turn-around would be much quicker where it concerns getting back to business. Today, more than the majority of our tourism infrastructure – hotels – are out of service, some for six, nine, 12 months and one or two up to two years.
Besides climate-resilient infrastructure, community and business continuity planning is essential to cope with disaster scenarios. This would allow our business sector to thrive and prosper in the face of threats. Members of the community and affected employees need to recover and return to work, and therefore a prepared workforce allows business continuity.
This is also applicable for threats such as flood events, and tsunami. There is little time to think about the aforementioned and start planning when things happen. By having a plan, being alert, conscious about what is happening, allows for decisive action and putting a plan into action with everyone knowing what to do which makes a difference. #SXMStrong
Roddy Heyliger
