By the Caribbean Journal staff

Four agencies of the United Kingdom plan to develop a Climate Change Programme specifically targeted for the UK overseas territories.

The programme will fill a perceived gap identified in recent reviews of current climate change programes, which show that the overseas territories are not eligible to benefit from certain programsmes.

Further, those which they can access do not fully meet their needs, according to the government.

The UK mentioned that many small island developing states are vulnerable by their nature, such as Montserrat, which it said was vulnerable to climate change because of high exposure to natural hazards such as tropical cyclones, storm surges, floods, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

Others, like the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos have thin water lenses and decreasing fresh water availability, and are highly sensitive to rising sea levels and changing rainfall distribution.

For more on the UK and climate change, read Caribbean Journal’s interview with John Ashton, the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change.