The Bahamas is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change, and even as the Office of the Prime Minister ramps up work on a national development plan, and a Bahamian delegation attends the 20th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Lima, Peru, local experts say mitigation must be incorporated now.
The UNFCCC conference opened on 1 December and wraps up this Friday: it brings together the 196 Parties to the UNFCCC - the parent treaty of the landmark 1997 Kyoto Protocol - in an attempt to hammer out the new universal treaty, which would enter force by 2020.
Guardian Business understands that Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology Commission Director Philip Weech and a team are in Peru for the conference.
Meanwhile, Dr. Adelle Thomas of the Public Education and Outreach Committee of the National Climate Change Committee explained that, due to their low elevation and small size, Bahamian islands are vulnerable to the many impacts of climate change including sea level rise, flooding, more intense storms and hurricanes and higher average temperatures.
"These environmental changes can affect all aspects of life in The Bahamas including loss of land, damage to infrastructure, changes in disease patterns, loss of biodiversity and even changes to our tourism, agriculture and fisheries industries," Dr. Thomas said.
"In order to limit these potentially catastrophic impacts, The Bahamas must focus on adaptation, ways to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on the country."
Environmental scientist Dr. Rhianna Neely added that - as The Bahamas contemplates a national development plan - now is the time to work to mitigate the effects of climate change. Dr. Neely cited an international call issued by the Philippines for all nations to do what they can to mitigate the effects of climate change, not only those developed countries who have historically been the source of greenhouse emissions.
"Our National Development Plan must also include mitigation as we plan," she said.
"The fact that we are solely dependent on external factors for income (is added incentive)."
Dr. Neely pointed out as an example that when it comes to tourism and energy - two of the areas with the most impact on The Bahamas and Bahamians - the cost of those things will be determined by environmental factors as well.
"A lot of what we need to survive doesn't come from the country," she said.
"Climate change affects everybody, and there is more that Bahamians can know about climate change. There is much more that we can know."

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