Facing the climate change, do not take action today, would cost to Haiti, 3 billion US dollars by 2025, while adaptation measures would require "only" 261 million over the same period. These are the findings of a study on the estimated costs of climate change impacts in Haiti, published 100 days before the holding of the 21st Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change of 2015 (COP21 / CMP11) which should allow the world including Haiti, to engage in the establishment of a new international climate agreement, applicable to all countries, with the aim of keeping global warming below 2°C.

According to Yvonne Helle, Director of United Nations Program for Development Main (UNDP) in Haiti "This study is a tool for decision in the planning of sustainable development and the selection of priority areas for adaptation actions [...] it must enable the country to provide in the national budget additional funds to implement adaptation measures to face prolonged periods of drought, among others, causing considerable losses in all sectors especially in the agriculture." [representing 26% of GDP in Haiti. Source CCI Haiti].

"Haiti is particularly vulnerable to climate change and the cost of the damage will be Pharaonic if no action is undertaken strategically and operationally," said Dorine Jean Paul, head of the project "Strengthening the adaptive capacity of coastal communities of Haiti face the climate change" of the UNDP, funded by the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the Canadian Agency for International Development (CIDA).

Herold Etienne, Director General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, speaking at the presentation workshop of the study, acknowledged that projections on economic and financial terms, compared to climate change portend an uncertain future. He pointed out that the Haitian Government was aware of all eventualities and was ready to take clear steps to stop this bleeding.

Download the study on the estimated costs of climate change impacts in Haiti : (in french)

https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/UNDP-HT-ProEnv-EtuEconoCC.pdf

HL/ HaitiLibre