As you’ve probably seen (and felt!), the world has been experiencing stark increases in temperature over the last two years; And it’s not just your imagination. Science has shown that that 2023 was the hottest year on record and has confirmed that the earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about 1-degree Celsius above preindustrial levels. Other than cranking up your air conditioning units (and our electricity bills) why should this matter to us?  

The Broad Impacts of Climate Change 

These increases signal an acceleration of the impacts of changes in the overall state of the climate system caused by the release of greenhouse gases through human activity. While spikes in surface and ocean temperatures are the most immediate concerns, changes in the climate systems also include accelerated melting of the polar ice caps and major glaciers increasing sea levels, more intense, localized rainfall leading to flooding, stronger and more frequent hurricanes and conversely more intense and prolonged dry spells leading to drought.  

Vulnerability of the Caribbean Islands 

While these changes affect everyone, the Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to them due to the small size of Caribbean islands and their continuous coastlines. Many of these islands lie in the direct path of hurricanes, known as the hurricane belt. And as we all would have seen the 2024 hurricane season has shown just where the changes in climate can lead. Due to exceptionally warm weather across the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in combination with the effects of the El Nino and El Nina climate patterns there has been the strongest, most easterly hurricane ever seen this early in the hurricane season.  

Hurricane Beryl; But we're just getting started!  

Hurricane Beryl has already left a trail of destruction from deaths to damage in a number of Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and Grenada, and led to flooding and coastal disruptions right here in Trinidad and Tobago. Before the Atlantic hurricane season even beganthe National Hurricane Center of the USA forecasted that 17 to 25 named storms will likely occur by November 30th, the official end of the hurricane season. Of these 13 are expected to become hurricanes. This is the highest number of named storms the NHC has ever predicted; an average Hurricane season has 14 named storms and 7 hurricanes, indicating that 2024 can see almost double the number of hurricanes in a typical season thus far.   

Mitigation and Adaptation; What we’re ACTUALLY doing! 

So how are we dealing with the effects of these changes in climate that have become our new reality? Two main things are required for climate change to be addressed. The first is a reduction in carbon emissions and the second are actions that help us to adapt to where the effects are already being felt. The world has undertaken a recent Global Stock Take (GST) which indicated that carbon emissions are not falling as quickly as needed to avoid a global increase in temperature of 2 degrees- with 1.5 degrees Celsius considered to be the threshold after which effects will accelerate and multiply manyfold. Countries are therefore undertaking more ambitious actions to address these emissions through national initiatives. In Trinidad and Tobago these actions have been outlined in the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets of a 15% reduction in emissions in the industry, power generation and transportation sectors by 2030. Underlying this transition is a drive towards a target of 30% renewables on the national grid, currently powered by natural gas, by 2030. UNDP has been supporting these efforts through a number of national projects and recently under the umbrella of the Climate Promise 2025. This UN program aims to provide more focused attention and support to countries in aligning NDCs with the goal of not exceeding 1.5° degrees Celsius global warming while continuing to make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

In Trinidad and Tobago our partnership projects have focused on renewable energy and energy efficiency policy and legislative frameworks, technical capacity building through training and South - South cooperation and numerous demonstration projects to showcase the effectiveness of the technologies available.  

The adaptation required is also being supported by UNDP. Flooding is a major hazard associated with the more intense, localized rainfall experienced due to climate change. To help Trinidad and Tobago respond to this a number of stream gauge stations have been installed both in Trinidad and Tobago that provide real time river level information to a central website that is available to the public. There has also been training on flood preparedness and response to the neighboring communities and support for an Inter-Agency Response Coordinating Mechanism. As of 2024 the installation of additional gauges, in combination with rainfall gauges, additional training for more communities and a flood susceptibility study are being undertaken to broaden the coverage of the community flood early warning system. Public awareness raising and communications campaigns are also key aspects of these efforts.  

We’re in this together; Every small action Counts!  

None of these efforts are done in isolation of a country’s national priorities or without partnering with key institutions and stakeholders. This is an important part of a development journey and successful efforts to address climate change must include and address impacts on all affected, particularly the most vulnerable. It is also directly linked to individual behaviors and choices. How does what I do as an individual contribute to addressing climate change. Do I carpool or does every member of my household that can drive and who can afford it, own and drive their own vehicle? What kind of car do I own? Do I leave my air-conditioning/ lights/ television on when I leave home? Do I do multiple spins of my dryer when I can consolidate and just do a few? Do I dispose of my garbage responsibly and not litter? Do I recycle and reuse as much as possible? Do I compost?  

Individual circumstances and resources differ of course but individual actions like these can have a significant collective impact.  Let’s all try to do our part in preserving this planet we call home. There is- literally- no other like it.