Sea level rise impacts on the Caribbean region

Frorm the summary of an upcoming report on the impacts of climate change in the Caribbean region:

The Caribbean will be affected more seriously by SLR [sea level rise] than most areas of the world; SLR in the northern Caribbean may exceed the global average by up to 25%. In addition, the impacts of tropical storms and hurricanes on coastal areas, even at present intensity and frequency, will be compounded by SLR. The impacts of SLR will not be uniform among the CARICOM nations, with some projected to experience severe impacts from a 1 metre SLR. In nations where low lying-land is extensive and who are therefore more exposed to the impacts of SLR and storm surge, concerns are of damage to agriculture, industry and infrastructure as well as salt water penetration into the groundwater reservoirs. For nations with a more complex topography and characterized by steep sloped coasts fronted by only a narrow strip of low lying land, the main concerns are landslides, beach erosion and disruption to infrastructure that is concentrated in limited flat land areas. In both cases, damage to mangroves and seagrass beds is of concern, especially since these areas are of importance in coastal protection as well as fishery resources.

In the case of most of the countries, the tourism industry is of particular concern, since it is preferentially located very close to the coastal, often in low-lying areas with highly erodible sandy beaches. These impacts and changes mean that much more needs to be done in terms of coastal protection and in the planning of coastal development.

It terms of protection, the importance of natural inhibitors to erosion, such as beaches and mangroves, needs to be emphasised. In terms of planning, attention needs to be paid to the location of industry, communication and of course housing. In addition, care will need to be taken in the ‘siting’ of tourist developments, which generally occur close to the coastline. In all these matters, the topographic and geologic setting of locations at risk must be taken into account. The most vulnerable CARICOM nations to SLR were found to be: Suriname, Guyana, The Bahamas, and Belize.

The key impacts of a 1 metre rise in SLR can be summarised as follows: over 2,700 km2of Caribbean land area lost and 10% of The Bahamas land area; with the market value of undeveloped land lost across the CARICOM nations being over US $70 billion. Over 100,000 people will be displaced (8% of the population in Suriname, 5% of The Bahamas, 3% of Belize). The cost to rebuild basic housing, roads and services water, electricity) for displaced population approximately US $1.8 billion. The annual GDP losses will be at least US $1.2 billion (over 6% in Suriname, 5% in The Bahamas, 3% in Guyana and Belize) not including hurricane and storm impacts on GDP. At least 16 multimillion dollar tourism resorts lost, with a replacement cost of over US $1.6 billion and the livelihoods of thousands of employees and communities affected. In addition to the impacts of increased temperature on agricultural yield over 1% agricultural land will be lost, with implications for food supply and rural livelihoods Transportation networks will be severely disrupted: 10% of CARICOM island airports will be lost at a cost of over US $715 million; lands surrounding 14 seaports will be inundated (out of a total of 50) at a cost of over US $320 million, the reconstruction cost of lost roads exceeds US $178 million (6% of road network in Guyana, 4% in Suriname, 2% in The Bahamas).

From Wikipedia:
Currently CARICOM has 15 full members:
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas (not part of customs union), Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat (a territory of the United Kingdom), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

Associate members(all British overseas territories):
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands

There are seven observers:
Aruba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Venezuela