Minister of Environment and Energy Thoriq Ibrahim stated that hurricane Irma graphically shows the destructive power of climate change and underscores that loss and damage is not some abstract concept.
Speaking as the Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), Minister of Environment and Energy Thoriq Ibrahim stated that hurricanes and natural disasters such as Irma shows destructive power of climate change. The Maldivian Environment Minister said that loss and damage is not an abstract concept, but the reality of life for the people who contributed least to the problem.
Devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean will sharpen the demands from small island nations that top fossil-fuel consumers help to cope with damage attributable to climate change, according to representatives of some of those countries. That will put island nations on a collision course with the United States and other rich countries during United Nations climate talks in Bonn, Germany, in November. Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas on August 25, triggering record flooding that killed around 60 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Ministers from island nations will point to the back-to-back storms to pressure negotiators at Bonn to agree to details of a mechanism for addressing loss and damage from extreme weather as well as slower changes such as sea level rises and desertification. Climate scientists have said warmer air and water resulting from climate change may have contributed to the severity of the storms.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has disputed such claims as an attempt to politicise natural disasters.