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Existential Threats: Further Note 3D. North Atlantic Tropical Storms This figure shows the number of named tropical storms in the North Atlantic, per year, smoothed out over a 10-year running average to minimize the noise in year-to-year variation. Since 1996, tropical storm frequency has exceeded by 40% the old historic maximum of the mid-1950s, previously considered extreme. Recent peer-reviewed studies suggest a link between higher sea surface temperature and storm frequency. Extreme weather events are a projected impact of global climate change. Source: The Pew Center on Global Climate Change, http://www.pewclimate.org/globalwarming-basics/facts_and_figures/impacts/storms.cfm ] Atlantic Storm Tracks. Source: The Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/outlook/weathernews/news/articles/hurricane-season-2010-scorecard_2010-08-1 2010 Tropical Storm Scorecard. From the Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/outlook/weathernews/news/articles/hurricane-season-2010-scorecard_2010-08-16 CARIBBEAN: DEBT SUSTAINABILITY Extracts from Preliminary Overview of The Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2009; by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. “As ECLAC (2009a) has indicated, the public debt of most of the Englishspeaking Caribbean countries has exceeded levels that could in any way be defined as sustainable, and the situation only worsened in 2009 (see box II.2). In table II.1 it can be observed that, except for Bahamas, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, at the close of 2009 this subregion showed levels of public debt that ranged from 60% of GDP in Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to almost 120% in Jamaica.” “According to (ECLAC’S) calculations, Barbados, Belize, Guyana and Jamaica would have to post primary (fiscal) surpluses of between 2.3% and 3.9% of GDP over the next 20 years in order to reduce their current public debt to 40% of GDP, a level considered to be sustainable...In every case, it is important to bear in mind the marked recessionary effects of such fiscal adjustments, as well as their economic and social costs, which would be magnified if the current recessionary climate and economic slowdown resulting from the international crisis were to continue”. http://www.cepal.org/publicaciones/xml/3/38063/Chapter_II_Economic_Policy.pdf, p. 38. Retrieved 14 June 2010. Caribbean Countries: Homicide rates per 100,000 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Comparison: Canada: 2 per 100,000; Singapore: 1.3 per 100,000. Barbados, which has one of the lowest homicide rates in the English-speaking Caribbean, has a homicide rate that is 5 times that of Canada and over 7 times that of Singapore. Jamaica’s homicide rate is 28 times that of Canada and nearly 44 times that of Singapore. Data taken from the Guardian data base at http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tAJzrYuGxXOGbU_HO2s_PrQ#gid=0 The national data source, where available, is used in preference to the WHO estimate. Most sources are for the years 2005-2005; but the Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago figure have been updated to 2009 based on newspaper reports.