News

UNCTAD project key findings inform the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, highlighting substantial increases in risk to SIDS’s critical transportation infrastructure from climate changed-induced marine inundation, unless further adaptation is undertaken.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently published a special report on global warming of 1.5 °C – a level of warming of particular concern to Small Island Developing States and included as an aspirational goal in the Paris Agreement – which, regrettably, will be reached as early as in the 2030s. Key findings of the UNCTAD project, published in Regional Environmental Change 2018 (https://rdcu.be/Q1OY), have informed the IPCC’s assessment of “Impacts of 1.5 ºC global warming on natural and human systems”, highlighting the risks of marine inundation for SIDS’ critical transportation infrastructure. (See Chapter 3 of the IPCC Report, Section 3.4.5.3 and Box 3.5; with reference to Monioudi et.al. (2018).

A leaflet providing an overview of the UNCTAD project and its substantive findings is also available on the web-platform.

The findings of the IPCC Special Report underline the important impacts that weather and climate-related extreme events may have on sustainable development prospects. Relevant trade related implications of weather extremes were considered in a recent UNCTAD article  which also highlights relevant recent research.

The important need to reduce economic losses from disasters was the focus of an interactive discussion organized by UNCTAD, UNISDR and ITC on the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Reduction 2018. The event spotlighted ongoing efforts to integrate disaster and climate risks into development, trade and financial systems. Presentations, including from the OECS Commission, as well as further information and documentation is available on the meetings website. See also ‘Related work by UNCTAD’ where relevant links have been added.