You as responsible citizens have to be more aware of climatic changes that are taking place on our planet earth. The Bible tells us in Genesis Chapters 6-9 the story of Noah's Ark, a story which must have been ignored by Noah's contemporaries. In fact they must have thought that Noah was completely nuts to have built a boat up in the hills far away from the sea.
Did you know that global warming is a reality and that the planet earth is predicted to warm up by two degrees centigrade in the next 30 years? If the world were to arrest the current emission of greenhouse gases we would have created an environment in which our children and grandchildren would experience lower temperatures.
Coast lines erode.If hurricane Ivan had hit Jamaica head on, the country would have been totally destroyed. It is difficult for any structure to with stand winds that were gusting to more than 200 mph.
The trend predicts that the hurricanes will become more intense and it is likely that Jamaica will receive a direct hit within the foreseeable future.
To a large extent it is the industrial countries that produce the high level of greenhouse gases, so one may ask what we can do about it as a small island state.
On the world scene, I believe that we have to lobby our government to make representation at the United Nations to limit the use of fossil fuels and to drastically reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. We need to have the nations of the world abide by the Kyoto agreement, the major global treaty, designed to reduce the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere, the gases that cause global warming.
The world is going to be a very different place in 30 years. Things that normally happen in geologic time are happening during the span of a human lifetime. Yet, the United States of America refuses to abide by the Kyoto agreement, a country that is responsible for 25 per cent of the production of all harmful gases.
STRINGENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL NEEDED
Nationally here in Jamaica, it is therefore imperative that we lobby our Government to put new measures in place to control our own environment.
A new look must be taken as to where housing estates are sited. We cannot allow developers to build in flood-prone areas.
Squatting cannot be a solution to the shortage of housing and, worst yet, these communities are often located on river and gully banks and other flood-prone areas.
Our Planning Authority has to create new building codes that will require buildings to withstand winds in excess of 250 mph. Coastal buildings will have be designed to withstand waves and surges that exceed 30 feet.
Negril is an area that needs to be fully investigated. They were badly hit by Ivan, and suffered substantial damage. On the seven-mile beach there are buildings that are now in the sea, these buildings were all built within the restricted 'no build' area along the coastline. On Sunday I observed one hotel property pouring new concrete pathways in the sand, oblivious of the immense damage that such illegal practices do to the beach. The Government needs to act now to save our national treasure, Negril beach, or we will lose it!
WATER RESOURCES
The Government will have to seriously consider the construction of major reservoirs now. We cannot depend on the extraction of water from the ground and the damming of rivers to provide potable water for the nation.
It is a shame that the last major reservoir was built by the British in the bad old colonial days.
Oil is king now but in 30 years water will be the source of energy most sought after. Bottled water now cost $36 per litre the same price as gasolene! Can you imagine what will happen when the mountain streams on the continents dry up, as they will?
The Lands Department will have to have an accelerated reforestation programme put in place that will be designed to protect the watershed areas of our island.
Coal burning has to be substantially curtailed, as this is a major threat to the sustainability of our forests and the nation will have to start controlling our emissions from our motor vehicles.
The Government will have to create legislation to protect our utility power lines from the possibility of being destroyed by fallen trees. It should be illegal to plant a tree within a prescribed distance from a power line.
These are but a few of the measures that we should lobby our government to actively pursue.
Let us face the reality of global warming and stop pretending that all is well and that there will not be any effect on our island state. Let us become proactive and start planning to make Jamaica the Noah's Ark of the 21st century.
