CANCUN– A new United Nations report says rising sea levels caused by climate change could cause billions of dollars in damages to Caribbean countries by 2080. The report, released here at the UN’s Climate Change conference, says that over 300 premium tourist resorts in the region could be eliminated by the rising sea level. In addition to prime tourist locations, the report says that airports, power plants, roads and agricultural land in low-lying areas, will also be lost of severely affected by climate change, significantly affecting national economies. Commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the report is produced by Caribsave, a partnership between the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and the University of Oxford. The report says that, by 2080, the cost of the damage and rebuilding caused by sea-level rise for just the 15 English-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries could reached USS$187 billion. It predicts that “at least 149 multi-million dollar tourism resorts” could be damaged or lost as a result of sea-level rise of one metre, which is regarded as highly likely by the end of the century. The report warns that 21 of the region’s airports could be lost or affected by the rising sea level, and land surrounding 35 of the region’s 44 ports inundated. It says that a one-metre rise in sea level, with erosion included, would result in “at least 307 multi-million dollar tourism resorts damaged or lost.”
