THE BOTTOM-Last week, climate scientists Iris Keizer and Nadia Bloemendaal of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) visited Saba to share their knowledge on climate change. 

Their visit was in relation to the climate scenarios report that KNMI published last year in October. For the first time, the islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba were included in this report, which forecasted possible future climate scenarios for the BES in relation to climate change.

Part of Keizer and Bloemendaal’s visit to Saba was to also get to know their stakeholders in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands and to understand the experiences of persons whose lives, in one way or another, have been impacted by extreme weather events as a result of climate change. They met with various stakeholders while on the island.

Hurricanes

Keizer and Bloemandaal during their visit spoke about four potential climate scenarios which may impact Saba. One concrete prediction was the fact that over the coming years, winds will increase, while precipitation decreases.

Also, while the scenarios do not indicate that more hurricanes will occur than is currently the case, the report does show that hurricanes may become stronger in the future as ocean temperatures increase.