THE UWI CHAMPIONS CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE
In August and September 2019, both the second and third special reports were published— Climate Change and Land: An IPCC Special Report, the Summary for Policymakers and Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, while the first special report, Global Warming of 1.5°C, was approved and released in September 2018. UWI Featured in Science The UWI’s Professor Michael Taylor was among an internationally respected group of scientists urgently calling on world leaders to accelerate efforts to tackle climate change. The scientists and authors of a study published in a September 2019 edition of Science pointed out that almost every aspect of the planet’s environment and ecology is undergoing changes in response to climate change—some of which are profound, if not catastrophic for the future. The Science study also suggested that reducing the magnitude of climate change is a good investment. Over the next few decades, acting to reduce climate change is expected to cost much less than the damage otherwise inflicted
The publication is one of two components of a project led by the Climate Studies Group at The UWI’s Mona Campus with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology as a key project partner and contributor along with the Instituto de Meteorologia in Cuba. IPCC Report The UWI continued its active academic and scientific contributions with a record nine academics serving the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in various capacities. Its members served on three international working groups to produce a three-volume global assessment report, known as “the sixth report” and “three special reports” on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL). The academics are Professor Michelle Mycoo (coordinating lead author on a chapter on small islands); Dr. Tannecia Stephenson; Dr. Donovan Campbell; Dr. Adrian Spence; Professor Michael Taylor; Professor Noureddine Benkeblia; Dr. Michael Sutherland; Dr. Aidan Farrell; and Professor John Agard.
State of the Caribbean Climate Report The State of the Caribbean Climate Report, published by the Climate Studies Group at The UWI’s Mona Campus in April 2020, presents the stark Caribbean climate realities, such as the increasing severity and frequency of tropical storms; the threat posed by climate change to the region’s development goals; and the need to account for climate in the pursuit of these goals. The report, which provides critical analysis and discussion on Caribbean climate, variability and trends, and projections, was produced with grant funding from the ACP-EU-CDB Natural Disaster Risk Management in CARIFORUM Countries programme (NDRM), which is in turn funded by the European Union and managed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). It is geared towards increasing decision-makers’ basic understanding of climate variability and change, facilitating evidence- based planning and policy, and implementing prioritised actions tailored to respond to climatic threats as well as sector-specific sensitivity contexts.
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