Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 30/Oct 10:52

Message from monster Melissa

THE CATASTROPHIC trail left behind in Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas by Hurricane Melissa, whose full extent continues to come into clearer focus, brings with it two separate but equally timely messages. The first – the climate change crisis. The second – the vital importance of Caricom. Deaths were recorded in Jamaica even before Melissa, one of history’s most powerful Atlantic cyclones, made landfall. At least 15,000 people fled to shelters, while 530,000 were initially left without power. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness on October 28 reported “significant” damage, with roads, hospitals and property severely impacted by Category 5 winds, the highest possible on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Even as the system was later downgraded, the regional death toll rose, with a number of casualties in Haiti, where authorities say 25 were killed, including children, by flood waters. At least 735,000 people were evacuated in Cuba. Monstrous was the force of the storm at its most ferocious, with sustained winds exceeding 157mph, earning it the moniker “the storm of the century.” That power was directly related to warmer than usual seawater. While the storm rampaged, UN general secretary António Guterres this week warned that humanity has already missed its 1.5C global heating target. “The truth is that we have failed,” he lamented. “Going above 1.5C has devastating consequences. Some of these devastating consequences are tipping points, be it in the Amazon, be it in Greenland, or western Antarctica or the coral reefs.” For us in the Caribbean, Melissa’s force was as eloquent a warning as Mr Guterres’ cry. Whether any of it is heeded internationally, as radical right-wing politics continues to addle global discourse, remains to be seen. Oil and gas interests maintain a stranglehold on populist parties. Even figures like Bill Gates this week shockingly called on the world to move on from its previous goals, saying, “Although climate change will have serious consequences – particularly for people in the poorest countries – it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth.” In other words, regions like the Caribbean are mere collateral. There is a strong irony to Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s pledge of support to Jamaica, coming as she, in her own way, rampaged like Melissa through decades of Caricom co-operation and diplomacy earlier this week. As a believer in the notion that the “climate agenda” is more harmful than good, her willingness to cast the bloc aside as irrelevant to “TT first” goals, is as misguided as it is dangerous. Melissa proves no man is an island. We cannot go it alone. Caricom is not irrelevant. Jamaica today, but one day it could very well be TT's turn. The post Message from monster Melissa appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.