Download 3D. North Atlantic Tropical Storms

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
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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.