The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A leading environmentalist yesterday urged The Bahamas to confront the impact of climate change head on, adding that it needs to address the potential impact “sooner rather than later”.

Joe Darville, Save the Bays executive chairman, told Tribune Business that scientific data showed The Bahamas is running out of time to mitigate the impacts of global warming, such as rising sea levels and more frequent and powerful hurricanes, as best it can.

He said: “We as a country have to deal with this climate change phenomenon. This is not if, and, or but. This is something that’s happening right now and we need to deal with it as a country.”

Mr Darville added that he has seen the devastation inflicted in The Bahamas by bad environmental policies and lack of enforcement, which has also impacted nearby Florida. He recalled: “I was in Miami for a conference and, at that time, there was a full moon that affected the tide, and that evening the streets of downtown Miami were flooded.

“We put on boots and went downtown in Miami, and had photographs taken, so this is a phenomenon that is going to hit The Bahamas and it is hitting The Bahamas already. That is exactly the phenomenon that will face this archipelagic nation, which is basically at sea level.

“For years now, for Bahamians to have crown land, that crown land has to be at least 25 to 30 feet above sea level. We had anticipated that at least in 50 years we would see a dramatic change in the tidal waves, and with hurricanes threatening at a phenomenal force and the coastal areas disappearing. This is not going to be 50 years from now; it’s going to be sooner than that.”

Concerned that there will be “nowhere to go” when sea levels rise to the point where Bahamians will be under constant threat, Mr Darville added: “Nations in the Southern Pacific, they are already purchasing land in countries that are at least 30 feet above sea level in order for their people to find refuge.

“So we have to look diligently at how we’re going to deal with this, and it is not if this is going to happen - it is going to happen. The fact is that the majority of our oceans are thousands of feet deep. In fact, it is about seven miles deep, so what is going to happen when that surge comes across these islands.”