The Cost of Climate Change in Belize!

Colin Young

Doctor Young also spoke about the impact of climate change on the region, zoning in on Belize.  He says the annual cost of climate change related events such as droughts and floods is equivalent to seven percent of the country’s GDP. It’s a significant number that Doctor Young says is a challenge for any country to navigate.

Dr. Colin Young, Executive Director, C.C.C.C.C.

“Why progress is hard to see is that you make some progress is one step front and two steps backwards. In some cases, I know that from the data in Belize, that each year from probably the last ten years that climate change associated impacts result in a staggering seven percent loss to GDP in damages that equate to about seven percent losses to GDP. It means that if we add up all of the damages caused by floods; by droughts; by coastal erosion and by hurricanes in any given year the country will suffer losses that are equivalent to about seven percent of its GDP. If you put that into context and you look at the annual growth of GDP, you will see that the damages are far in excess of the economic growth. So, in other words you are digging hole each year because of the impacts of climate change and in order for us to adapt, the scale of financing that is needed is going to be significantly greater than the countries can afford.”