Dr Kenrick Leslie, director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, said it is projected that climate change will exacerbate the development challenges of the region, making it harder to attain and sustain millennium development goals.

He was speaking yesterday during the official handing over of the National Water Adaptation Sector Strategy Plan developed by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre. The document was handed to Dr Horace Chang, minister of water and housing, at his offices on Dominica Drive in New Kingston.

According to Leslie, the region is already experiencing changing weather patterns with more intense extremes, including drought, floods and hurricanes.

"A recent study has shown the potential economic costs as a percentage of GDP to Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) if no action is taken to reduce the impacts of climate change," he said.

Increasing GDP

By 2025, the average cost to the region will be 14 per cent of its GDP, increasing to 39 per cent by 2050, 45 per cent by 2075 and 63 per cent by 2010.

In the case of Jamaica, the numbers are 13.9 per cent by 2025, increasing to 27.9 per cent by 2050, 43.3 per cent by 2075 and 56.9 per cent by 2100.

Director of the Meteorological Service, Sylvia McGill noted that climate change continued to pose a serious challenge socially, economically and environmentally across the globe.

"The assessments of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have stated that the small islands and the low-lying coastal areas are the most vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change," she said.

McGill further said one of the sectors projected to be adversely impacted is the water resource sector, with the changes in rainfall patterns.

Studies have shown that expected changes in the Caribbean include drier periods. The IPCC has projected more frequent droughts and floods.

"Jamaica, from time to time, has been affected by these severe events and as such a National Water Sector Adaptation Strategy to address climate change at this time is most appropriate," she said.