Author: Kalesh Loakman, LLM
October 10, 2024
Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted “an above-normal 2024 hurricane season”. Since Beryl’s formation on June 30, 2024, as the first hurricane of the 2024 season, there have been four other tropical storms to date. As of August 8, 2024—approximately three months into the six-month hurricane season, which spans the months of June to November—there is still a concern that this year’s hurricane season will be intense. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean is dubbed the second most disaster-prone region in the world. Together with an overwhelming sargassum presence in the region, an uptick in hurricane intensity will undoubtedly exacerbate the climate crisis in the region.
Ironically, these territories are amongst the least significant contributors to the global climate problem. It is therefore of no surprise that frustrated heads of governments of the small island developing states comprising the Caribbean regional bloc, CARICOM, have reached a consensus at a recent meeting that a single unified stance needs to be taken on the growing climate crisis. The goal is to issue a statement at the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP) decrying the climate injustice meted out to nations within the region as a result of a “destructive climate phenomenon that they are not responsible for”.
Hurricane Patterns and Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN-run body that conducts research into climate science, enunciated in its 2021 report that there is a direct and unequivocal correlation between human-influenced climate change and the increased intensity of tropical cyclones, especially over the last four decades. There is some uncertainty, however, whether human-induced climate change is the determining factor as regards the number of hurricanes experienced annually. Arguably, the increased number of hurricanes that occur per season does not take away from the catastrophic damage that a single intense storm can cause.
More troublingly, an increase in global temperatures is likely to worsen environmental and living conditions for people living in the region. Warm water is one of the key components for the formation of a hurricane. Unchecked human activity will likely contribute to an increase in global ocean temperatures, which, in turn, will impact upon the intensity of hurricanes in the Caribbean region. Climate change is not a singular thing; it manifests itself in the form of different natural but abnormal phenomena and varies from region to region. Once a phenomenon “stems from the consequence of those direct impacts”, it becomes a cascading effect of climate change, the root of which needs to be dealt with to alleviate crisis-causing consequences. In the Caribbean, such cascading effects have tested the capacity of governments and nations to deal with climate change.
Lessons From Beryl
Hurricane Beryl’s formation and trajectory through the south-eastern Caribbean have been described as ‘historic’ and ‘record-breaking’. Two months after Hurricane Beryl, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is struggling to rebuild destroyed communities in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. On the Saffir-Simpson scale, Beryl was the first category 4 hurricane ever recorded for the month of June, before it strengthened into the earliest category 5 hurricane on record. Hurricanes are about 300 miles wide, on average, and dwarf the small islands of the eastern Caribbean chain that were hit by Beryl, its predecessors, and its successors. It is therefore clear why the current climate emergency, which exacerbates the incidence and intensity of hurricanes in the region, is a growing concern.
It is estimated that Beryl’s destructive path through the Windward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean has cost the region at least US $510 million in loss. This cost is independent of the loss of many lives, the destruction of businesses and livelihoods that depend on life-sustaining industries such as fisheries and tourism, and the displacement of thousands of people, whose homes were destroyed by overwhelming winds. Approximately 90% of the homes in several of the islands of Grenada were destroyed by Beryl.
The escalation in intensity of hurricanes in the region has garnered the attention of the UN as well. Commenting on the consequences of Hurricane Beryl’s impact on the region, Simon Springett, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, remarked that Beryl has “disrupted lives at a scale and ferocity that is becoming all too common.” More dauntingly, Caribbean governments have chimed in to plead with the world at large to be more deliberate in their efforts to combat the climate crisis. The plight of Caribbean populations deserves attention, as the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Beryl have created ‘a financing gap’ that continues to grow on the island of Grenada.
Potential and Actual Threats to Rights and Development
Climate change, along with all its cascading effects, poses one of the biggest threats to human rights. The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change (2024) has underscored the importance of international cooperation “to secure and promote access to information on climate change and human rights, to enhance protection for affected communities and to hold States and businesses accountable”.
Hurricanes have continually destroyed and crippled health, education, and other critical services and sectors in the region by damaging related public infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. As a consequence, the right to health and education, as protected under the UN human rights framework, is threatened. States also owe their citizens the protection of their right to development and should create favorable conditions nationally and internationally to ensure that this right is protected. Hurricane Beryl singularly racked up an estimated 550 million dollars in damages in the Caribbean. Money that should otherwise be spent strengthening social services and public infrastructure has to be spent on post-hurricane recovery. In the region, education is not only an essential human right but is critical for national development. Destroyed and damaged schools send these island nations down a path of stunted development.
Further, the destruction that Beryl wrought on boats, other fishing vessels, and port facilities, coupled with the cancellation of flights and cruises to these tourism-dependent islands, has negatively impacted Caribbean fisheries and tourism sectors, which are two critical driving forces for economic sustainability in the region. Access to water, food, and electricity, which are not just necessities of life but guaranteed under international human rights frameworks, cannot be realized if resources and infrastructure are threatened. The right to housing has also been severely impacted. Of the 650,000 people from Barbados, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago who were in Beryl’s path, tens of thousands were left homeless. In Union Island, one of the Grenadine islands comprising St Vincent and the Grenadines, 90% of homes were destroyed. As a consequence, the standard of living of the region’s people has been affected.
Call for Action
Intensified hurricanes are only one of the many effects of climate change being felt in the Caribbean region. However, the lesson to be learned is the same: the lives, livelihoods, and human rights of those in the Caribbean are constantly being threatened by this phenomenon.. Human rights must be respected and protected equally worldwide, and the concerns of both the governments and the people of the Caribbean should not go unheard.
Glossary
Cascading effect: Risks of climate change which are brought about by compounding rights of global warming
Correlation - A connection or relationship between two or more facts
Economic sustainability - Practices which support long-term economic growth without having a negative impact on social, environmental and cultural aspects of a community.
Exacerbate - To make something that is already bad even worse
Enunciate - To state something clearly and often officially
Ferocity - The state of being frightening or violent
International human rights framework: This comprises and refers to the core international human rights treaties with binding effect on all States
Hurricane: A type of storm called a tropical cyclone, which forms over tropical or subtropical waters (Quoted: National Ocean Service)
Hurricane intensity: On the Saffir-Simpson Scale, hurricanes range from categories 1 to 5. Hurricanes reaching Category 3 and higher are considered major hurricanes because of their potential for significant loss of life and damage. Storms are predicted to more frequently be at Category 3 or higher.
Predecessors - Something that comes before another thing in time or in a series
Sargassum: A type of large brown seaweed that floats in island-like masses but never attaches itself to the seafloor.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS): Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a group of small island nations and territories which, because of their remoteness, small populations, dependence on ocean resources, reliance on imports, and limited access to finance, are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Trajectory - The path or course which a hurricane takes as it travels
Tropical cyclones: Tropical cyclones are rapidly rotating storms that begin over tropical oceans, and they can vary in speed, size, and intensity. In the Caribbean, tropical cyclones are referred to as hurricanes.
Unequivocal - Express in a clear and certain way