Countries like Haiti have not been responsible for climate change and need urgent support to cope, reports Savio Carvalho.

Can you imagine your country experiencing three hurricanes in one year? This is exactly what happened last year to Haiti, a small island in the Caribbean. Many other neighbouring island states like Jamaica, the Bahamas, Grenada, and the Dominican Republic were also battered and all have seen a reversal in their growth and development as a result.

 

But it was Haiti - the poorest of the islands, with the least effective infrastructure - that bore the brunt of the terrifying storms. During a recent visit there, I met with a wide range of civil society organisations that are working on climate change issues. Last year highlighted how vulnerable the islanders are to hurricanes that climate models predict will become more intense and frequent. Action to protect them is urgently needed.

The main challenge they face, though, is finding a way to convince the world of the need act now - and getting the world to respond with the urgency that is required.

To the outside world, the Caribbean is a “heaven on earth” - white sand, sunshine, blue seas, corals, diving, music and cocktails. While this is true, what we often forget is that a significant percentage of the population earns less than $2 a day and is highly vulnerable due to their limited capacity to cope.

No 999 for poor people

Poor communities cannot simply dial 999 or 911 to call for help. They have to take action all by themselves, often with their bare hands and empty stomachs.

We all have vivid images of Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans in 2005. Hurricanes leave behind a plethora of devastation including lost family members, destroyed houses, washed away soil and hunger. For Haiti, it was even worse last year as the hurricanes struck after a prolonged drought, which had already left people with very little food.

I visited Cap Haitian where I saw several communities living within high tide zones. These communities live in very dangerous conditions. Even in low to medium-strength storms their houses can be destroyed. Jean-Pierre, who lives close to Cap Haitian, told me: “I lost most of my family in the 2008 cyclone in a major landslide. They were all sleeping and never ever woke up. Later the water and wind came and took everything I had.”

Haitians have historically faced the wrath of nature and have managed to survive. However, many admit that the frequency and intensity of the storms have increased in the past few years.

The Haitian people, on their own or with government help, have initiated different levels of disaster preparedness and risk reduction programmes. These include investing in training programmes and building hurricane-proof shelters. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

They have also developed a National Adaptation Programme of Action to identify the potential effects of climate change and what is needed to protect people.

Need for financial support

Countries like Haiti will need large amounts of financial support from the global community to adapt to climate change. Money, for instance, could help improve environment management by paying for construction of dikes and new seed varieties tolerant of drought.

Oxfam is calling on developed nations to cover the costs of adaptation for nations like Haiti and to help the developing world cut their own emissions. Countries like Haiti have not been responsible for climate change and need urgent support to cope.

A minimum of $150 billion per year is needed, along with support to help nations build capacity to cope with climate change and help getting low-carbon technologies from rich nations established in poorer ones as well. Rich countries also need to drastically cut their own emissions.

While the hurricane season, which runs from July to November, may have given Haiti and its neighbouring islands a break this year, there should be no break for world leaders as the countdown continues toward the UN negotiations in Copenhagen next month.

Citizens in rich countries need to do all that they can to ensure their leaders work harder, smarter and swifter to ensure a safe, fair, binding and ambitious climate deal in the Danish capital so that poor communities like those in Haiti begin to get the help they so desperately need.

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Tags: 'Here & Now' climate change campaign, climate change, Haiti

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