NMI cited as example of increasing danger, damage
The 5th National Climate Assessment that the White House released last week features the CNMI as an example of the increasing danger posed by climate change and the damage it inflicts.
The report paid specific attention to Super Typhoon Yutu, which caused $500 million in property damage on the islands in 2018, not to mention the loss of life and the economic downturn the CNMI is still experiencing, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP) said in his e-kilili newsletter over the weekend.
The Yutu experience underscored how events such as cyclones, flooding, and droughts combine with societal factors to acutely affect human health and safety, according to the report.
The Global Change of Research of 1990 mandates the U.S. Global Change Research Program to deliver a report to the U.S. Congress and the President not less frequently than ever four years. The report assesses the climate change impacts, risk, and responses of the United States.
Although the report documents an overall reduction in U.S. emissions of the greenhouse gases causing the planet to heat up and an increase in actions by every state and non-state area to reduce the impacts of this climate change, much more is needed, Sablan said.
The report says climate change-related disasters in America are costing $1 billion in damage every three weeks.
Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan
