By Deandre Williamson
Caribbean Climate Justice Journalism Fellow
#Bahamas, November 29, 2022 – With the trauma of Hurricane Dorian still lingering, residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama braced for Hurricane Nicole while experiencing yet another unfair blow of climate injustice.
As sea levels rose, causing storm surges and flooding, the northwestern islands of the Bahamas were placed under a hurricane watch. For many, this signaled that the fight for climate justice must continue.
Some residents on those islands evacuated their homes and fled to shelters hours before Nicole made landfall in the Bahamas on Nov. 9 as a tropical storm and strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with winds of up to 75 miles per hour.
“The wind was manageable. It wasn’t as bad as we thought. In our area we got maybe a limb or more than that. The power was out for a while, but thank God we made it,” said Abaco resident Mark Anthony Swain.
Although the impact of Hurricane Nicole was minimal when compared to Hurricane Dorian in 2019, climate change is the underlying cause of the intensity and frequency of hurricanes in recent years.
When Nicole left the Bahamas, the “all clear” was given, but the country is not in the clear from future hurricanes and the devastating effects of climate change.
However, it is clear that the Bahamas and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in need of climate justice because they have been hit hardest by the impact of climate change, are least accountable and collectively unresponsive.
responsibility for the climate crisis.
As the Bahamas government fights for climate justice, residents of Abaco and Grand Bahama are calling for more to be done to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Swain, who also experienced Hurricane Dorian, said countries that are major contributors of carbon emissions to the atmosphere should do more to help smaller countries combat climate change, so when hurricanes and other disasters occur natural, smaller countries will be able to maintain themselves.
“I think these other countries that are contributing to the climate challenge we’re facing need to be held accountable and responsible in that regard,” Swain added.
China, the United States, Russia, India and Japan are the top five countries with the highest carbon emissions in the world.
Grand Bahama resident Randy Deleveaux, who was on the island during Hurricane Nicole, agrees that more needs to be done about the climate crisis because the Bahamas is in a hurricane zone based on its geographic location.
“We know that every year rain, shine or shine, it seems like we’re going to have a hurricane, whether it’s big or not,” Deleveaux said. “In fact, even though what we consider not big, we have to take more necessary precautions because Dorian taught us that we can’t take anything for granted.”
Deleveaux suggested that the government should ensure that every household is equipped with storm shutters, flotation devices and life jackets.
“There are so many things the government can do and people can do about hurricanes because we always have to prepare,” he added.
“Every time we have a hurricane coming, people have to run and get plywood off to put on their windows. We have to move on from that and be able to prepare properly.
“Look at our coastal erosion and things like that because of hurricanes. I remember once you could go to the beaches and see sand, now some of these beaches don’t have that sand because of the hurricanes and we’re not even looking at the impact it has on our coastal and marine life. We do not replace sand. There are many things we can do.”
Loss and damage
But no matter how big or small a storm is on the Saffir-Simpson scale, there is always loss and damage associated with a storm.
More than 50 percent of the Bahamas’ outstanding debt can be linked to the impacts of hurricanes between 2015 and 2019, according to the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, during the meeting of regional heads of government of the Caribbean in preparation for COP27.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in its Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) synthesis, noted that the Bahamas has lost more than $4.2 billion over the past seven years as a result of hurricanes Joaquin, Matthew, Irma and Dorian.
Abaco and Grand Bahama are still rebuilding from Hurricane Dorian and, although minimal, damage from Hurricane Nicole is being assessed.
Prime Minister Davis was in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt to attend COP27 when Hurricane Nicole passed through
Northwest Bahamas. At COP27, he called on world leaders to take care to ensure that losses and damages are compensated.
“We don’t have a significant carbon footprint in the world. Yes, we have a significant carbon sink in the world. But still, after this hurricane has passed, who will have to pay for the recovery, the reconstruction and the normalization of the lives of my people?” Davis said in a video interview.
Climate justice fights for solutions to the climate crisis that would result in reduced emissions and rich industrialized nations sharing the burden of the crisis while helping SIDS address the severe effects of climate change.
Swain lost his home during Hurricane Dorian and there are others who also lost their homes and some are still living in trailers in Abaco.
Without insurance, Swain is rebuilding his home, but progress is slow.
He explained that the Disaster Reconstruction Authority and other NGOs promised to help him, but have yet to keep their promises.
“We’re going to try, out of pocket, to do some things to bring us together,” Swain said.
Hurricane Dorian caused a housing shortage in Abaco and the demand for a home is high.
According to Swain, due to demand and desperation to find a home, rent in Abaco is skyrocketing.
“You can find an average, two-bedroom apartment that costs no less than $1,500. In some cases it is over $2,000,” he said.
After negotiations and listening to the pleas of small island developing states, COP27 closed with the announcement of a loss and damage fund to compensate countries affected by climate change. This is a big step in the fight for climate justice.
This story was published with support from Climate Tracker’s Caribbean Climate Justice Journalism Fellowship.
Deandre Williamson
journalism
Member, Bahamas Press Club 2014
Title: Flooding in Abaco caused by Hurricane Nicole. (Photo/Abaco resident)
