Conference: Climate Change in the Intra-Americas

TITLE: Climate Change in the Intra-Americas: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Mitigation
DATE: November 30-December 4, 1998
SITE: Kovens Conference Center, Florida International University, Miami, Florida
CO-SPONSORS: US Environmental Protection Agency, Organization of American States, Florida International University, the Caribbean Conservation Association, the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, IUCN - the World Conservation Union, and NOAA's Office of Global Programs

The conference objective was to strengthen the region's capacity to adapt to climate change by developing cooperative strategies among participants, including public policymakers, NGO's, local planners, the insurance industry, and academics from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States.

The conference consisted of three major components:

Staff at the Organization of American States took the lead in organizing the training sessions for the Caribbean participants. In addition to providing training, the OAS wanted to share the experience of setting up the CPACC program and serve as an example for others in the region. The CPACC program, set up in 1995 by the OAS and the Global Environmental Facility of the World Bank (GEF), is a cooperative effort to help Caribbean nations develop a strategy to adapt to climate change. The program provides for a climate monitoring network, an inventory of coastal resources, and the establishment of a database and information system in the Caribbean region. The twelve participating countries are each responsible for developing a plan that takes into account the impact of climate change in different sectors and industries.

During the two days of plenary sessions, presenters from each sub-region discussed how climate change has affected their respective regions and what actions are being implemented to prevent and mitigate further impact.

The discussion on the implications of climate change for the US Gulf Coast States included presentations about the risk to natural ecosystems, such as national parks and beaches, as well as to human-built structures. In the United States, beach erosion in Florida has become so severe that communities in the area have resorted to buying sand from Barbados. Stephen Leatherman, Director of the International Hurricane Center and the Laboratory for Coastal Research, pointed to how salt water intrusion is damaging crops and properties, and the significant implications of a one-foot rise in sea level. Frank Nutter, President of the Reinsurance Association of America, also addressed the vulnerability of the insurance industry to a possible increase in severe weather.

In the Caribbean session, sea level rise, increased beach erosion and damage from tropical storms were cited for their adverse impact on the industrial, energy, insurance, and tourism sectors. Dr. Leonard Nurse, Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit in Barbados, spoke of the multiple considerations pertaining to the protection of Caribbean coasts and the limited attention paid to unique conditions, such as incorporating the impact of sea level rise into designs, the sustainability of coral reefs, and the incidence of high and low tides in the Caribbean coasts.

Dr. Max Campos Ortiz, who directs the Central America Project on Climate Change, began the discussion of the Central America and Mexico subregion. He recounted the work of the Central America Project, which was established to estimate the vulnerability of the region to climate change and sea level rise. The project has developed models considering the effect of climate change on infrastructure, natural resources, soil moisture, crop yield, and the impact on 14 water basins. Dr. Ruben Lara-Lara from Centro de Investigacion Cientifica Y Educacion Superior de Ensenada looked at Mexico's vulnerability to climate change. For Mexico, one of the biggest issues is desertification - approximately 50% of the land is arid. Other concerns expressed included sea level rise, which has impacted 80% of the ports, and gasoline use, which has risen to 20 million liters a day in Mexico City alone. In light of declining support from funding organizations for regional vulnerability studies, Christiana Figueres of the Center for Sustainable Development in the Americas proposed strategic financing options that would help countries meet costs associated with addressing climate change.

In addition to discussions of regional impacts, three of the luncheon speakers at the Miami conference, Dr. Noel Brown, Sir Crispin Tickell, Climate Institute Chairman, and Institute president John Topping, focused significantly on international implications of climate change and the state of the climate negotiations.

The following are among the principal recommendations emerging from the final day of the event:

In addition to US EPA funding received through a cooperative assistance agreement, support for the conference was provided by the Organization of American States (OAS), the International Hurricane Center, the Caribbean Conservation Association, the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, IUCN - the World Conservation Union, and NOAA's Office of Global Programs.