CNN would have you believe it's just Puerto Rico.
It's not.
From last week's press briefing by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres:
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for your presence and it is indeed good to see you again.
As you know, we are coming off a jam-packed High-level week and opening of the General Assembly.
Some of the most important speeches during that period came from the
leaders of Caribbean nations reeling from back-to-back hurricanes.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda reported that the entire population of Barbuda had been left homeless.
The Prime Minister of Dominica declared that he had come to the United
Nations “straight from the front line of the war on climate change”.
Today I am announcing that I will travel on Saturday to Antigua, Barbuda
and Dominica to survey the damage and to assess what more the United
Nations can do to help people recover, visiting of course also the
operations that are taking place there.
When I met them last month, I was struck most of all by a prevailing
message from all the Caribbean leaders – including from the hardest hit
countries.
Yes, they said, we urgently need support today.
But even in the wake of utter devastation, they urged the world to act for tomorrow.
As I said in my address to the General Assembly, we should not link any single weather event with climate change.
But scientists are clear that such extreme weather is precisely what
their models predict, and they predict it will be the new normal of a
warming world.
I would like to share some relevant data about what we are seeing.
First, some facts about this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Hurricane Irma, which devastated Barbuda, was a Category 5 hurricane for
three consecutive days – this is the longest on satellite record.
Irma’s winds reached 300 kilometers per hour for 37 hours -- the longest on record at that intensity.
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma marked the first time that two Category 4 storms made landfall in the United States in the same year.
And, of course, they were followed by Hurricane Maria, which decimated Dominica and had severe impacts across Puerto Rico.
It is rare to see so many storms of such strength so early in the season.
Second, some facts about the changes in major climate systems.
Sea levels have risen more than 10 inches since 1870.
Over the past 30 years, the number of annual weather-related disasters has nearly tripled, and economic losses have quintupled.
Scientists are learning more and more about the links between climate change and extreme weather.
Climate change is warming the seas. This, in turn, means more water
vapor in the atmosphere. When storms come, they bring more rain.
A warmer climate turbocharges the intensity of hurricanes. Instead of
dissipating, they pick up fuel as they move across the ocean.
The melting of glaciers, and the thermal expansion of the seas, means
bigger storm surges. With more and more people living on coastlines,
the damage is, and will be that much greater.
Scientific models have long predicted an increase in the number of
Category 4 and 5 hurricanes. This is precisely what is happening – and
even sooner than expected.
To date, the United Nations and its partners have provided a variety of
humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean region by air and by sea: 18
tons of food; 3 million water purification tablets; 3,000 water tanks;
2,500 tents; 2,000 mosquito nets and school kits; 500 debit cards for
cash assistance; and much else.
We have launched appeals for $113.9 million to cover humanitarian needs for the immediate period ahead.
I commend those countries that are showing solidarity with the Caribbean
countries at this time of dire need, including those doing so through
South-South cooperation.
But on the whole, I regret to report, the response has been poor. I
urge donors to respond more generously in the weeks to come.
The United Nations will continue to help countries in the Caribbean to
strengthen disaster preparedness, working closely with the Caribbean
Disaster Emergency Management Agency.
We are strongly committed to helping small island states and, indeed,
all countries to adapt to inevitable climate impacts, to increase the
pace of recovery and to strengthen resilience overall.
Innovative financing mechanisms will be crucial in enabling
countries, like the Caribbean ones, to cope with external shocks of such
significant magnitude.
We know that the world has the tools, the technologies and the wealth
to address climate change, but we must show more determination in
moving towards a green, clean, sustainable energy future.
Once again, I urge countries to implement the Paris Agreement, and with greater ambition.
That is why I will convene a Climate Summit in 2019, as you know.
But today and every day, I am determined to ensure that the United
Nations works to protect our common future and to seize the
opportunities of climate action.
Thank you very much.
**Questions and Answers
Spokesman: Maggie and then Edie.
Question: Secretary-General, good morning. Margaret Besheer, "Voice
of America". Secretary-General, a follow-up on what you just said about
climate change. You say it's the new normal, these storms and… and also
we're seeing drought. So, what can the UN do specifically? Could you
start a climate change task force or a special CERF (Central Emergency
Response Fund) just to mitigate the effects of climate change on some of
the smaller island nations? What actions can you take? And if you'd
indulge me on a… one other question, next week, President [Donald] Trump
will decide whether to certify whether Iran is in compliance with the
nuclear deal from 2015. He's indicated, perhaps, that he won't. Other
world leaders have weighed in on it, and I would just like to ask you
your opinion on what should be done and how important this deal is to
international security.
Secretary-General: Well, first of all, the most important thing is
to do everything possible to stop the changes that we are witnessing in
relation to climate patterns, and this is, of course, related to
emissions. That is why the Paris Agreement is so important, and that is
why we need an enhanced implementation of the Paris Agreement, because
the Paris Agreement in itself is not enough. And this is something in
which we'll be mobilising the whole international community. Second,
it's very important to build resilience in the areas that are more
dramatically impacted, and we have… we are working with different
Caribbean organisations and others around the world and with World Bank
in order to make sure that we are able to provide assistance in relation
to that and, of course, funding is essential. Many of these countries
in the Caribbean are middle-income countries. They have no access to
concessional finance, and they now having external shocks of huge
dimension.
I remember when Jordan and Lebanon were impacted by huge refugee
inflows. They were finally entitled to receive concessional loans by the
World Bank because of the fact that they had these huge external
shocks. I think we are facing a similar situation. That is why I'm
appealing for innovative financing mechanisms able to support these
countries that clearly are too small to be able to have the solution of
their problems but just by the normal access to financial markets. And,
on the other hand, we will be working hard in relation to the immediate
response to this humanitarian crisis. We have already, for instance, in
Dominica 40 members of the staff of different UN agencies, and we are
doing everything we can to support these countries to be able to face
the challenge. There will be… there is, at the present moment, the
preparation, two post-disaster assessments, done together by the World
Bank and the UN, both in Dominica and Barbuda. So, we are very actively
working both in relation to the immediate response to the present
situation and to prevent further shocks both by climate action and
building resilience.
In relation to the nuclear agreement with Iran, we have said time and
time again that we can see that it was a very important breakthrough
from the point of view of global peace and security and that we strongly
hope that that agreement will be maintained.
Spokesman: Edie?
Question: Thank you very much, Mr Secretary-General. On the climate
issue, two questions. First, the Prime Minister of Dominica said that he
wanted to be the first country that would build back better and climate
resilient, climate resistant. What can the UN do to promote this? And
are you considering an overall donors' conference for the affected
Caribbean countries to actually help them build back better?
Secretary-General: I think we need several fronts. First, the
assessment we are doing with World Bank that will be presented to the
Government of Dominica. Second, it's very important to allow Dominica to
have access to innovative forms of finance in concessional conditions,
because, as I said, it's very difficult for these countries to rebuild
just by having access to normal capital markets. Third, we need,
obviously, donor support, but we need that donor support to be linked
both to the humanitarian response and to the plans that, based on the
assessment [that] will be made by the Government, in order to make
Dominica an even more resilient country in relation to future storms of
this nature. So, there are several areas, and the UN will be very active
in all of them and in all of them cooperating with the government. We
have already had… we have a donor conference that is scheduled, and
we'll be working according to the needs in relation to all the fronts I
mentioned.
Spokesman: Sherwin.
Question: Thank you, Secretary-General. The more we talk about the
Paris climate change agreement, the more we begin to understand that it
wasn't enough. We constantly hear you talking about the need to upscale
ambition. Was this a failure of the international community to agree to
something that was seen at the time as a panacea for… in terms of
mitigation? Was this a failure that they didn't go far enough, given
the fact that scientists are now telling us that the ambition levels in
the current agreement is not going to be enough to mitigate climate
change?
Secretary-General: No, it was clear from the beginning that that was
not enough, but that was an extraordinary step forward. So, the Paris
Agreement is, indeed, the best foundation for the future. Countries are
asked to make their own commitments, as you know, and it was clear from
the beginning that those commitments will need to be enhanced in order
to be able to have a growth in the temp… rise in the temperatures below 2
and, if possible, at 1.5. If one looks at the Paris Agreement as it is,
we'll probably reach about 3 degrees. So, it's clear we need more, but
this was clear from the beginning. And what is important is that the
Paris Agreement is the solid foundation to allow us to have the ambition
to go further and to make sure that we do not have a warming of the
planet at the catastrophic levels that would happen if we'd just move on
as we are.
Spokesman: Evelyn.
Question: Mr Secretary-General, Evelyn Leopold. There's an elephant
in the region called the United States, which is withdrawing from the
climate agreement and the administration denies that climate change even
exists. What kind of an impact do you think it has on the region?
Secretary-General: I believe that what we are witnessing [in] the US
society in relation to the reaction of some states but also cities,
business community is such, and I would quote my Special Envoy on cities
and climate change that recently said that he believes that the US
commitments to Paris will be met independently of the Government
decisions by the efforts that he is witnessing in the US economy, in the
US society. As I said, governors, mayors, business leaders make Mike
Bloomberg be very optimistic about the possibility of the US to meet its
commitments. Last question?
Question: Thank you. Mr Secretary-General, following… following up
with Evelyn's question, have you have a chance to share these comments
on climate change with President Trump or perhaps her daughter… his
daughter?
Secretary-General: It is clear that there is a different perspective
on this issue. I have not yet lost my hope that what is happening will
be making those that are still sceptical about climate change to be more
and more realising that this, indeed, is a major threat for the
international community at the present moment. Thank you very much.
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