Hurricane Beryl, the strongest hurricane recorded in the Caribbean since 2005 and the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Ocean, devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in its path across the Caribbean. An urgent appeal for aid has gone out to raise desperately needed funds to support recovery efforts in the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which was slaked by winds greater than 165 mph.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines spoke with Public Square Amplified Executive Director Josie Gonsalves on the “All Politics R Local” radio program on July 5. (Editor’s note: The prime minister and Ms. Gonsalves are distant cousins.) The show is hosted by Jonathan Alston.

“Ninety percent of the houses on Union Island have been destroyed, which is the most badly affected – it’s completely devastated,” Prime Minister Gonsalves said. He said the hurricane had destroyed a total of more than 1,000 houses on the island, displacing the vast majority of its population.

The damage has thrown the country into crisis, with far-reaching impacts that will be felt for months. Comprised of 32 islands, nine of which are inhabited, it is one of a collection of nations known as the small island developing states. With a population of about 110,000 people, it is one of the smallest countries by population in the world.

The prime minister went on to say, “the scale of the crisis led to the appeal. The country badly needs all types of aid - we need tents, cots, tarpaulin, chainsaws.  We need things to clean up, we need portable toilets. 

But it matters how it receives the assistance, he added.

“If you’re sending things, please send food through structured systems - or send it directly and personally to a family member,” the prime minister said. “I’ve just removed all duties on the barrels that come in to the country” he said, referring to the use of shipping barrels to send goods around the world.

Hurricane Beryl formed June 28 in “Hurricane Alley,” the area of warm water that stretches from the west coast of north Africa to the east coast of Central America. It made landfall July 1 on the island of Carriacou in Grenada as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, causing extensive damage.

Then it intensified to a Category 5, hitting St. Vincent and the Grenadines by July 2. It has caused millions of dollars in damage and the deaths of at least three people, he said. Nothing was spared damage: At the airport, the terminal building “is gone,” he said. Schools and electricity infrastructure were severely damaged: “It will take months to get electricity service back,” he said.

Immediate aid will allow the country to deal with the situation it is now facing – but more efforts need to be made to address the root cause, the prime minister said: Global climate change.

“As primary school students, we sang a little ditty about hurricane season,” he said. It went like this, he recounted:

“Well, June is not too soon and, as you have just seen, you don't stand by in July – you get a Category 5 hurricane,” he said.

Promises from the world’s major economies – and the sources of the emissions that are driving climate change – have gone unfulfilled for years, he added.

This resonates particularly among the roughly 65 million people who live in the world’s small island development states. Although less than one percent of the world’s population, these nations face unique challenges. Often remotely located, they are at the forefront of climate change: as hurricanes and other storms get more powerful due to warmer oceans, their fragile environments are imperiled; as sea levels rise, human habitations are directly affected, too. 

The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development recognized these unique vulnerabilities: “Climate change has a very tangible impact on SIDS,” conference delegates agreed.

“We have not seen what has been promised,” Gonsalves said of financial assistance that has been repeatedly promised at international climate change conferences for years. “We have fought for the loss and damage fund – but that’s for loss and damage that we’ve incurred: What about mitigation moneys – before you get the loss and damage?”

The world is on track to exceed the 1.5-degree Celsius increase in temperature beyond which scientists say climate change may cause extreme and irreversible effects. In 2022, the average global temperature was about 1.15 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels; at current rates of increase, with each year seeming to break the previous record for average high temperatures, the 1.5-degree level will be surpassed within about 10 years.

“Degradation of the land, droughts, and decreased rainfall – it’s part and parcel of the same process of global warming and climate change,” Gonsalves said. “If we don’t arrive at net zero by 2050, people may experience a terrible, inhospitable world. And my last grandson, Hugo, who will be one year later this month, when he is my age at turn of the century, the planet will not be hospitable for him.

“The science is there. And the science is not just persuasive – it’s compelling and conclusive. Yet, you have a leading figure in the US saying at rallies ‘Burn, baby burn - I’m going to burn the oil.’ In that way, the illusion is engendered that will somehow help make America great again. But it’s leading all of us to damnation and immiseration.”