experienced 20 per cent more warmer days since 1960. The character of rainfall has also shifted. Rainfall is more sporadic and moves between extremely heavy and extremely insufficient. It has also been found by the Meteorological Centre of Jamaica that the nature of rainfall has also changed. The region receives rainfall as a result of systems outside the area, while drier conditions prevail within.
Jamaica has since agreed with the Alliance of Small Island States( AOSIS) that any goal above one point five degrees Celsius is unsatisfactorily motivated. Such a goal is also considered to be neglecting of the Caribbean experience to this point. Larger, developed countries would see it through different lenses.
Tangible effects
Taylor estimated that, at the regional level, Caribbean territories are expected to experience an average of 25 to 30 per cent increase in surface drying. However, that percentage will vary from island to island. It is anticipated that Jamaica, for instance, will experience an uncharacteristic 50 per cent drying that tends to impact the already conflicted harvested sources such as major dams and reservoirs.
These changes are particularly critical to the region because of the nature of development. Development in the region is still largely linked to agriculture and tourism. Both are major sources of national income that are, by nature, almost completely dependent on the environment. Any major shift in weather intensity or patterns could mean a loss of gross domestic product( GDP).
Douglas said he and other farmers have had to be creative in finding ways to provide water for crops because of dry conditions during the last drought.
“ We did irrigation that is manual [ as a result ]. We [ normally ] use the pump but we [ have ] had to truck water to various points; use our heads or donkeys to carry the water to different positions on the farm.”
He shared that with these setbacks in the cultivation process that every farmer has to go through, business has suffered.
“ We could have gone further [ earned more ] with what was sown [ on the first instance ] but continually dropping seeds sets us back because we don’ t have enough [ resources ].”
According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica( PIOJ), the country has been losing ground with regard to GDP. As far back as 2006, seven point three per cent of Jamaica’ s GDP was lost as a result of severe impact of climate change. This figure continues to increase.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change( UNFCCC) pointed out that much of the impact from climate change will impact sea and ocean levels. This is caused by the annual El Nino Southern Oscillation weather event, which now lasts longer because of drastic shifts in weather. El Nino refers to an irregularly occurring warm ocean current that varies in intensity and can result in catastrophic weather and climatic changes.
Douglas noted that he could tell that the El Nino period has been prolonged because of the severity of dry conditions in the area in which his farm is located.
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