The Editor, Sir:

We wish to correct an article reported in your newspaper on Friday November 9, 2007 concerning the vulnerability of Jamaica's south coast to climate change. It was reported that much of the south coast was below seven metres, and attributed this to Prof. Anthony Chen as part of his keynote address at the Climate Change Forum held the previous day.

Both points are in fact incorrect. Prof. Chen's presentation spoke about wide-ranging issues surrounding climate change, from historical trends to models for predicting impacts; he did not specifically mention Jamaica in any particular detail. The vulnerability assessment of the impacts on Jamaica were done by the team from the Mona GeoInformatics Institute, presented by Karen McIntyre and Dr. Parris Lyew-Ayee, who mentioned the vulnerability of the south coast to sea level rise (0.18m and 0.59m) and storm surge (1m, 5m, and 10m). While it is true the south coast is inherently more vulnerable than the north coast because of its topographic characteristics, 'much' of the south coast is not in fact below seven metres.

Climate change is still a sensitive issue, not well understood by many. We just wish to clarify the points above to avoid any alarm or confusion that this may cause and to avoid any dispute; it is very important that the facts are laid out clearly to the general public.

We are, etc.,

Dr. PARRIS LYEW-AYEE, Jr.

Prof ANTHONY CHEN

University of the West Indies

Kingston 7