 Okay well good afternoon everyone my name is Colonel Bill Ryerson from the Marine Corps University and it's my honor to be hosting this combined naval address on climate energy and environment. Really appreciate your interest and participation today and I think we have a great one-hour program. Today's topic is climate challenges in the Caribbean and we have a couple of fantastic speakers and on behalf of our consortium of Climate Interested Educational Institutions, as I mentioned I'm from Marine Corps University and on behalf of Naval Postgraduate School, Naval War College, the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Community College it's exciting to to bring this topic to light. We're going to start things off with some opening remarks by the Honorable Meredith Berger who is the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy Installations and Environment. Ms. Berger was appointed to this role in on July 28th, 2021 and among her many duties are to provide oversight and policy for Navy and Marine Corps energy and climate resilience, infrastructure sustainment, military construction, acquisition, environmental protection and safety and occupational health. With a background in policy and senior leadership roles in government and the private sector, Ms. Berger previously managed the defending democracy project at Microsoft and served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. She holds a master's degree from the Harvard County School, a Juris Doctor from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor of Arts from Vanderbilt University and has earned multiple prestigious service medals. Ms. Berger thank you for joining us ma'am and we look forward to your opening remarks. Colonel Ryerson thank you so much for the kind introduction and it's a pleasure to be back here with the combined naval address on issues that I think are so critically important. I am so glad that we have a consortium like this among our educational opportunities and such a robust attendance because this is the stuff that is on the margin of how we succeed and every little bit counts and so to be considering this as a threat to the way that we operate and enable our permission success if we do it right is just so critically important and I know that we have two speakers here today in Colonel Benjamin and also in Ramo, we miss Gorman. Thank you both for joining us today. It is exciting to have your perspective and have you present for this conversation. Bringing together this group here today shows a shared priority that we have in the region and it is making sure that we are building up our resilience together. The impacts of climate change are undeniable. We are seeing too much and too little water. We are seeing single storms wipe out installations and whole economies. This is impactful. It is takes us as the military first responders to be able to make sure that the community is holding that we stay with our sights on mission and making sure that we are executing all that we need to do. It puts a strain on mission. It adds to what we are required to do. It adds cost. It adds time. It adds all sorts of requirements to the many faceted roles that we already take on. And so I am proud to keep this focus where it rightly should be in a place that we see tremendous impact and tremendous opportunity. Vice President Harris earlier this year, excuse me, it was last year. I forgot we changed years in 2022 set out our collaboration PAC 2030. This is the United States Caribbean partnership to address the climate crisis. This is a focus that Secretary Austin at the Department of Defense level, Secretary del Toro at the Department of Navy level, both coming on and and CNO to to me and to all of you around the room and around around the online forum here are focused on. And so we are going to spend time today to make sure that we are educated to make sure that we are focused. And I wanted to orient you before turning it over to the experts and feature of our conversation here today, that this is part of a very focused effort in the Department of Navy and in support of Department of Defense objectives and partnership with these critical partners in the region. So we are very excited for robust 2024. Today we gather in this forum to hear from experts and engage in conversation February, March and April. We will be engaging with our Caribbean partners in specific workshops that are focused on areas that are of critical importance around health and safety around tech and data sharing. And then lastly around resilience and infrastructure strengthening and hardening will culminate in May with a tabletop exercise that exercises all of the things that we discussed that we try out in our workshops. And all of this will be in advance of our next Atlantic hurricane season, which as we all know, presses upon that urgency and is that mission stretcher that we face so often. So I am thrilled for the partnership that we are recognizing today eager to hear the perspectives of our esteemed speakers and grateful to all of you for the attention that you are putting towards this critical focus area for the Department of Navy and the way that we fight and the way that we win. So with that, I will turn it back over to the Colonel. Thank you very much for letting me kick off and very eager for the conversation today. Thank you, Miss Berger for setting the stage and for those opening remarks. As we transition to our speakers, as you all know, we have we have quite a lineup. We're honored by two Chiefs of Defense staff from Caribbean Nation. So getting their perspective on the impacts to their region that they feel firsthand on a regular basis. I think we're in for quite a treat. And so our first speaker this afternoon is going to be Colonel Telbert LA Benjamin. Colonel Benjamin is the Chief of Defense staff for the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force. He enlisted in 1995, was commissioned in 1997, and has supported multiple regional security missions, including deployments to Granada in 2004, Barbados in 2005, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009, Haiti in 2010, and Dominica in 2015. Colonel Benjamin served as a liaison officer to the Conference of the Armies of the Americas, and liaison officer to the Conference of Defense ministers of the Americas. He's a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the West Indies and a Master of Arts degree from Webster University. Colonel Benjamin embodies the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Forces motto ready to serve. And we are thrilled to have him share his perspective with our group today. Colonel Benjamin, thank you for your remarks today. Over to you, sir. Good afternoon and thank you very much, Colonel Ryerson. It's confirmed everyone can hear me. We can. Let me begin by saying thank you for the invitation to speak this afternoon to the leadership of Marine Corps University as well as to the NEC for this invitation. I would like to extend a warm Caribbean greetings to all of you in this forum today. The issues of climate change and its implications on small island states such as mine are of the highest importance to the Antigua Barbuda Defense Force and therefore receives the greatest consideration. For Antigua Barbuda, climate change and climate-related issues are considered as existential threats to the survival of our nation states. Antigua Barbuda is a small island in the eastern Caribbean and this is just to give perspective to those of you who may not know where we are. We are a multi-island state with a population of approximately 100,000 people and a total area of approximately 170 square miles. For comparison, we're about twice the size, a little bit more than twice the size of Washington DC. The island is approximately three hours like from Miami and 40 minutes away from Puerto Rico, nearest US territories. On September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma impacted the island of Barbuda as a category five storm on the Sapphire Simpson wind scale. With sustained winds in excess of 160 miles per hour and gusts as high as 180 miles per hour. As a result, as much as 95% of the structures on the island of Barbuda were either damaged or destroyed. The island of Antigua escaped any significant damage and was poised to support not only Barbuda, but other islands that were being impacted by Hurricane Irma. On September 9, 2017, Hurricane Jose approached the island once again as a category four storm with sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Anticipating the possible worsening of conditions, the Government of Antigua Barbuda issued a mandatory evacuation order for the island of Barbuda. On September 18, 2017, Hurricane Irma, the third hurricane in less than two weeks, became a category five hurricane once again, threatening the island and causing demonstration on the neighboring island of Dominica, with winds in excess of 175 miles per hour. Maria left a line of demonstration across the eastern Caribbean before continuing north just missing the Bahamas. The 2017 storm season and the subsequent years marked a turning point for the Antigua Barbuda Defence Force and the people of Antigua Barbuda, obviously. The storms that impacted my island were not simply the most powerful that we had experienced in recent history, but the effects forced us to review our capability requirements to operate and achieve mission success. Coupled with that, in recent years we have been impacted by other extremes in climatic conditions, including rising temperatures, rising sea levels and coastal erosion, and periods of prolonged drought. I do not have enough time, obviously, to talk about the obvious implications of the latter issues. Suffice it to say, as a result of the continued deficit in rainfall, Antigua Barbuda is probably the country most dependent on desalination of seawater for domestic use in the eastern Caribbean. I would like to focus for the next few minutes on the direction the ABDF is pursuing, in light of the climate-related challenges that confront us. As you would appreciate, the ABDF is a small organisation designed and built specifically to support the defence of the nation state. The force has an infantry battalion which includes an infantry company, a services company, and a reserve company. Additionally, there is a Coast Guard unit which employs a fleet of intercepted type vessels. We also have an air wing that includes two aircraft, and finally we are responsible for the National Cadet Programme, which is a youth programme, not dissimilar from your ROTC programme running your high schools in the US. Further, as a nation, Antigua Barbuda is a focal point in the regional response system with responsibility to support the islands of St. Gislevis, the British dependencies of Montserrat, Anguilla, and the British Virgin Islands, and also the island of St. Martin during HADR-related events. In this regard, we manage on behalf of the regional mechanism the storage of resources provided by the international community. Additionally, we play a leading role in coordinating responses in the event of major regional incidents. The 2017 hurricane season highlighted the need for a more outward-looking defence force. The forces department in response to the storms of 2017 season and subsequent years suggest that greater emphasis needed to be directed towards building, one, our engineering capability, secondly, the development of an outward-looking emergency medical capability, enhancing our search and rescue capability in the maritime and urban domains, the development of aerial surveillance capability, and finally the development of what we refer to as a robust public appearance arrangement. In the defence white paper issued in January of 2023, a five-killer capability framework was presented outlining the way forward for the APDM, in light of the impacts that we would have had based on climate-related issues. Those five pillars include one, maritime domain awareness and enhancement of that, two, disaster response and climate change capabilities, three, support to law enforcement, four, greater efforts at national development, and five, support to regional peace and stability. Of the five pillars identified, three were directly related to the national effort of mitigating against climate-related scenarios. The third pillar, which highlights the issues of responding to and mitigating the risks related to climate, climatic and other events, places emphasis on partnerships. In this regard, the Antigua Barbuda Defence Force now provides direct support to our disaster management agency here in Antigua Barbuda, similar to your FEMA. We also support the regional security system and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Those are regional entities that support emergency and disaster response. Additionally, there is the implied tasks to the Defence Force of reinforcing national systems such as our ports and our health infrastructure. In reorganizing to satisfy those areas mentioned above within the framework, extensive efforts are ongoing to do the following things. Firstly, train personnel and acquire resources to support the development of damage assessment and response teams capable of operating at the national as well as the regional level. Secondly, developing an emergency medical capability that can support national emergencies. This concept was tested and proven during the national fight against COVID-19 between the periods of 2020 to 2022. This effort was boosted by the acquisition of two field hospitals in 2022 through the United States Southern Command. Thirdly, enhancing the forces search and rescue capability. Beyond our responsibility for maritime search and rescue, we have expanded to address aviation responses to the same in addition to playing an enhanced role in the national as well as regional urban search and rescue efforts. Fourthly, an effort is ongoing to harden the forces facilities in response to the current and future effects of climate change and climate change related events. In doing this, we are pursuing the acquisition and installation or integration of off-grid concepts such as rainwater harvesting and the use of solar energy. Those being tested currently are potential use across all ABDF facilities. Additionally, consideration is being given to relocate some critical infrastructure from coastal areas that may be susceptible to future sea level rises. Finally, the ABDF is pursuing partnerships in an effort to strengthen our ability to identify risks and mitigate against the potential impact of those risks on all. Colonel Benjamin, sir, I think your video and audio froze up about 30 seconds ago. Can you hear us? I think you're back now. All right, I think we probably lost about the last 30 to 60 seconds. Okay, let me begin. Let me return to the defense white paper that was issued in January of 2023. Yes, sir. The five pillars covered by that review. Of the five pillars identified, three were directly related to the national effort of mitigating against climate related scenarios. The third pillar, that of disaster response and climate change, highlights the issue of responding to and mitigating of risks related to climatic and other events placing emphasis on partnerships. In this regard, the ABDF now provides direct support to our management or disaster management agency similar to your FEMA. We also support the regional security system and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency. Two regional entities gave to our disaster response within the eastern Caribbean. Additionally, there is an implied task for reinforcing national systems such as the ports and our health system here in Antigua and Barbuda. In reorganizing to satisfy the above mentioned framework, extensive efforts are ongoing to do the following. Firstly, train personnel and acquire resources to support the development of damage assessment and response teams capable of operating at the national and regional level. Secondly, developing an emergency medical capability that can support the national emergencies. This concept was tested and proven during the national fight against COVID-19 between the years 2020 and 2022. This effort was boosted by the acquisition of two field hospitals in 2022 through the U.S. Southern Command. Thirdly, enhancing the forces' surge in rescue capability. Beyond our responsibility for maritime sudden rescue, we have expanded to address aviation-related responses in addition to playing a leading role in the national and regional urban surge in rescue efforts. An effort is ongoing to harden the forces' facilities in response to the current and future defects of climate change related events. Off-grid concepts such as rainwater harvesting and the use of solar energy are currently being assessed for use. Additionally, consideration is being given to relocate some critical infrastructure from coastal areas that may be susceptible to future sea level rise. Finally, the AVDF is pursuing partnerships in an effort to strengthen our ability to identify risks and mitigate against the potential impact of those risks on our personnel, our facilities, and our country. Interoperability is a central tenet in this effort. We recognize that in a resource-based environment, building partnerships and enhancing our ability to work with those partners can and will reap tremendous benefits. We therefore partner with all stakeholders at the domestic as well as regional levels and we pursue international partnerships as well. I conclude by quoting from my Prime Minister the Honourable Gaston Brown in his presentation at the recently concluded COP28 held in Dubai and I quote, the irony is that small states that contribute the least to global CO2 emissions are its greatest victims, unquote. He goes on to say that, and I quote, the future weapons of mass destruction will not be bombs or guns. They will be scorching temperatures, persistent droughts, rising tides, and ferocious winds. End of quote. Ladies and gentlemen, might I suggest to those of you listening to me today, Ween and Tien Barbida at the islands of my region are already living this reality. Once again, thank you to the organizers of this event for the invitation to speak and I do look forward to any questions that might occur or might come forward at the end of this presentation. Thank you very much. Colonel Benjamin, thank you. That was a fantastic overview and to hear firsthand the challenges that your nation and in your role as a military leader faces really brings it home. I remember Hurricane Irma and the devastation to hear you describe it is heart breaking and your relationship with Southcom is obviously very important. Sir, thank you for that. We will do question and answer after our second speaker and so we look forward to to that portion of the program. At this time it's my pleasure to introduce our second speaker and that's Rear Admiral Antoinette Weems-Gorman. She is the Chief of Defense Staff for the Jamaican Defense Force. She has a 31 year career that includes groundbreaking achievements to include becoming the second woman in history to lead a national army when she was appointed to her current role on 20 January 2022. Prior to that, as force executive officer beginning in January 2020, she provided strategic guidance and directed force policies for the previous Chief of Defense playing a key role in transformational change in the Jamaican Defense Force. Additionally, Rear Admiral Weems-Gorman has held roles as brigade commander, maritime air and cyber command and commanding officer of the Coast Guard and as a subject matter expert in regional maritime security. Admiral Weems-Gorman is a graduate of the U.S. Naval War College and holds a master's degree with distinction in national security and strategic studies from the University of the West Indies in Mono. Rear Admiral Weems-Gorman, thank you for joining us today and we look forward to your perspective on climate-related challenges in the Caribbean. Over to you ma'am. Thank you Colonel Ryerson. Confirm I'm being heard. Yes ma'am we hear you loud and clear. See my staff officer is sharing some slides there once he gets it into presentation mode. I will just proceed. Let me start with the salutations honourable Meredith Berger, Assistant Secretary to the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment, yourself Colonel Ryerson, my colleague CDS from the Antigua and Barbuda Defense Force and the participants. Good morning and thank you very much for including me in this discussion. I think it's very important issue and as my colleague indicated it is a stark reality for us in the Caribbean region. I will be speaking generally about how the Caribbean region is affected these challenge by climate change. So these challenges directly affect the livelihoods of our already vulnerable population. Most of our population depends on agriculture, fisheries and specifically tourism. So the outcome of these climate-related events significantly negatively impact welfare, public health, food security and of course ultimately national security which is why we are having this conversation as military organizations. So JDF then as the military force for Jamaica we have 10 main rules and four of those rules are specific and directly related to climate related challenges and like Antigua and Barbuda we support other government agencies most prominently the Office of Disaster Management which is also our equivalent of FEMA, search and rescue, disaster relief is a main role and of course in regional cooperation we support our brothers and sisters in the other islands. So as I go through I will compliment what Colonel Benjamin spoke about in a broader Caribbean context. He spoke more specifically about Antigua and I will go through speaking a bit broader. So let me start with some data and some specifics about the Caribbean. We have two distinct wet seasons and these are primarily aligned with the Atlantic hurricane season and that season you may all know traditionally spans between 1st of June to the 30th of November every year but what we have seen as climate change, the challenge of climate change evolves that we are having systems that are forming outside of this band and so it's less predictable and so you know when I just joined some time ago you know we were specifically gearing up for you know events hurricanes and storm events within that band now we're seeing events occurring before and after the traditional or the traditional hurricane season. We're also seeing that the wet and dry season have moved they sometimes don't even occur at all and as Colonel Benjamin also mentioned a significant difference in temperatures throughout the year. So historically climate-related devastation in the Caribbean has had significant impact on our economies and infrastructure and IMF reports quoted by UNDP said that natural disasters occur more frequently and cost more on average in the Caribbean than anywhere else and even in comparison to smaller states. The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean conducted an analysis of of these events in the Caribbean over the period 1990 to 2008 and that analysis found that Caribbean countries under review experienced 165 natural disasters of which 61% were windstorm related events that is hurricane floods and tropical storms. Unfortunately Haiti the Dominican Republic and Jamaica which are located in the northern part of the Caribbean were the most affected by these natural disasters over the period having experienced 49, 34 and 21 natural events specifically and that estimated affected some 2.5 million people over the period of the study. Some more data here total damage the economic sector 63 billion dollars your impact on social sector 57 billion dollars total damage infrastructure 12 billion and this is us dollars and the impact on the environment 3.5 billion dollars not these kinds of figures you're talking about exceeding just the budget of a small a small country the overall budget of a small country in the Caribbean so you see the impact being very significant UNDP also said that between 1963 and 2017 on average countries within the Caribbean suffered a yearly losses due to storm damage equivalent to up to 17% of their gross domestic product so added to that is the impact of rising sea levels. Colonel Benjamin also referenced that some of our islands are very low lying islands and climate related challenges lead to rising sea levels rising atmospheric temperatures more earthquakes and of course the extreme flood and drought events and coastal erosion this impacts our ability or our country's ability to earn the the most coveted foreign exchange that our economy runs on because most of the countries in the Caribbean their economy is highly dependent on tourism as I mentioned before. Ma'am I apologize for interrupting the the slides are are not advancing so I wonder if we're having a quick glitch I apologize ma'am oh thank you um pass I'm not sure which slide you are on so we're still on slide one so it hasn't it hasn't advanced um yet on the screen major James are you is it showing on your computer that you're advancing uh yes sir it is actually um maybe if you stop I am sharing as well he stopped sharing and and share again apologies it's not so on our on the zoom it's not in presentation mode I wonder if it's not it's you're sharing it you're not sharing the screen that you think you're sharing maybe let me have a quick look at that sir okay or yeah maybe just close it and then reopen it rear admiral I apologize oh there okay now it's now it's uh now it's advancing thank you very much I'm sorry to interrupt you ma'am that's all right I'm on slide nine major James okay okay now we yes now we uh now we can see it slide again I'm having some challenges though and making it a full screen I'm not sure if you'll be okay with with showing this portion of it here I think um yeah I think this is still okay it's it's uh it's still large enough it's covering most of the screen hi ma'am this is Bayou Arman okay so if I will continue then um in 2019 I studied on the Caribbean climate change vulnerability indicated that by 2100 sea levels in the Caribbean are expected to rise to one point by by one point four meters and this uh this amount of sea level rise would translate into about 70 percent of our freshwater marshes and our brackish and sea land wet land wetlands being destroyed or lost um and you imagine the the impact of that on fisheries and uh these are the areas that protect our coastline as well and our nurseries for our fishing population and birds and so on and so this study also indicated that the annual economic losses if that should occur would be 63 million us dollars for the region so not only would we be losing uh having economic loss but most of our population live within three three nautical miles of the of the coastline in the Caribbean and so there will also be displacement of our population the loss of coral reefs um and increasing in drought will cause a decrease in food security it will lead to higher fuel consumption and so those challenges now lead us to having to have a military perspective on on on how we approach these challenges so the amount of effects of climate related challenges um continue to worsen and it could potentially discursive of resources could potentially cause worsen existing um geopolitical tensions and contribute to conflicts so as we look at it from a military perspective we recognize that climate related disruptions can cause a variety of issues you know population displacement risk to public health impact on our food security and the increased vulnerability to our critical infrastructures there's also illegal migration human trafficking can can get into the the fray as a tangential effect of these events as displaced individuals seek refuge and currently in in the Caribbean in the Caribbean region we we are already struggling with issues of illegal migration and persons seeking refugee status from countries that already are in vulnerable positions that can be significantly exacerbated or in or increased with the advent of of things like hurricanes and droughts and food insecurity so JDF then looked at this when we did our strategic defense review and um and we we have had to adjust our strategies and how we operate and how we build our own resilience and so we have to look to partners to achieve some of it because of course um small defense forces we are not able to do all of that on our own and so one of the ways that the JDF decided that we would um address it is to establish what we call a disaster assistance response team and this darts um we constitute we have the capacity to constitute three darts and they are the these persons are all are multidisciplinary and they are constituted before the Atlantic hurricane season and they are in a constant state of readiness to deploy at short notice to locations that are impacted by natural disasters um in the past couple of years we have deployed the darts to Dominico to the Bahamas um we have deployed the darts to to Haiti as well and and so um this is a 120 man strong team with all the different disciplines as I indicated and we have them on different um notices to move once the hurricane season is set up so they're all vaccinated together um the the the um the priority one group does not uh get leave during that period so they have all their their um personal affairs in order should an event occur and we have to deploy them we do that in support of course to regional setups such as Sedema the Caribbean disaster emergency management um regional response mechanism and we acknowledge that um this is it is also important to build our resilience and so in our defense review we consider the climate resilience when developing as we are growing the force and it is mandated there are various mandates within our our planning that we have to develop our infrastructure um and build in resilience there so not unlike my colleague in Antigua we we have looked to partners to achieve that and we also seek to implement sustainable initiatives for for climate resilience um we have environmental protection policies that mandate the use of renewable energy sustainable building designs recycling of resources and the use of technology for water and energy conservation and in fact currently um I have a pilot project to look at our fleet um transitioning our fleet to electronic um to EV EVs uh where we as we know that's the the future and to reduce our fuel consumption and our carbon footprint as a force all our new buildings have rainwater harvesting and um rain water reuse um and recycling of of that to ensure that we are reducing our own carbon footprint and management vehicle fleet management systems to ensure um minimal use of of the of our fleet and therefore less um energy consumption and of course all the energy consumption and renewable energies we put solar um into our buildings we are also um ensuring that the they are smart buildings so to speak so that you know when you leave a room their conditioning goes off and so on and so forth so the JDF response and resilience strategies are also in keeping with regional efforts um we are responsible for the northwestern sub-region of the Caribbean under Siddhima and that region consists of Bahamas, Belize, Haiti and the Turks and Caicos um we collaborate of course with the U.S. Southcom and our U.S. and Canadian partners and there we we are participating regional systems such as the system of cooperation among American Air Forces, CECOFA, which who have implemented a climate resilience and response mechanism amongst their membership and in the case of CECOFA it has created Savico which is a virtual room for coordination as part of its consolidated human aid of humanitarian aid operations and we are able to participate there. Regional efforts towards climate resilience and response are also further strengthened through our regional and international security cooperation agreements and these provide for us to help or to do training with um our partners in fact as we speak we the Jamaica is leading uh an exercise event horizon that the maritime air and cyber command currently engage with other Caribbean participants from the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Cayman Islands, Canada, Haiti and Kingdom of the Netherlands and Turks and Caicos um through a partnership with the UNODC to to really exercise and go through our steps and various workshops, tabletop exercises and real deployment for HADR or HADR mission. So what is the way forward then? We have to develop sustainable solutions and resilient strategies to protect the Caribbean's unique biodiversity, cultural heritage and socioeconomic well-being. The regional resilience efforts will require knowledge and understanding of climate-related challenges and how they impact the Caribbean and so the way forward really should include integration of climate-related studies into military education like we're currently engaged in. Building awareness is also critical in um addressing this as a threat to us all um and of course discussions like this very important that we integrate climate-related studies into um all that we do um in military education so that the future leaders of the military organizations are seized with the importance, the impact the effect it can have and some of the ways that we can mitigate and build our resilience by sharing knowledge as we face this what was called a non-traditional threats I think whether I was perhaps could have been a participant in this course we were looking at climate um climate challenges as as an emergent threat but as as I'll tell Bert said you know for us in the Caribbean it isn't emergent it is clear and present. As militaries we have to continue to strategize and build our resilience and position ourselves to respond to our population recognizing what the vulnerabilities are and making the plans to to mitigate them as certainly coastal installations such as our naval bases and so on we have to consider what the impact will be on that and how we we we we maintain business continuity to continue to serve um and respond after these events occur. So as I wrap up I want to reiterate that climate-related challenges have a significant impact on the Caribbean social economic stability and it can result in significant infrastructure damage population disruption and have negative impact on not only forward security but national security and global security. The JDF and other regional militaries we have sought to develop response capabilities and frameworks within our very finite and small resources and these efforts can only work with cooperation and partnerships regional and international partnerships. So the success of climate resilience in the Caribbean and other developing nations is really contingent on each person playing each country and and and even each individual playing their part and developed countries I must say are responsible for 79% of the historical carbon emissions and one third of current emissions which is a major cause of global greenhouse gases resulting in the climate-related challenges we face today. It may also be interesting to note that coal farming releases so much methane into the atmosphere. I think the the United States environmental protection agency says one single coal produces 154 to 264 pounds of methane gas per year. This is as a direct result of of of human eating habits really so we have to look at all those things there are 1.5 billion heads of cattle raised specifically for meat production in the world and that in we totally emit about approximately 231 billion pounds of methane into the atmosphere and so these are some of the things that we have to consider as we look to addressing the challenges climate change brings. It is my hope that we will focus on building the resilience within even as we enhance our capabilities and adjust our climate unfriendly practices as an interconnected world climate challenges have a global impact with the more vulnerable and less resilient economies facing devastating outcomes. It is therefore critical to address climate-related challenges as a collaborative effort and the JDF remains committed to fulfilling its responsibility to the region and by extension contributing to global peace and stability. I remain committed to the ongoing collaboration and information sharing on climate change and resilience in the region and internationally. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak. I hope some of what I said made sense and I look forward to your questions. Thank you. Rear Admiral Weems-Gorman thank you so much for those very very helpful perspective from from another defense leader in the Caribbean. Your slide about the need to build education and build awareness that really goes to the heart of what this forum is all about bringing awareness to the to the climate challenges not just across the globe but specific to to the Caribbean region and and your nation in particular as well as Antigua and Barbuda. Thank you so much ma'am. Colonel Benjamin and Rear Admiral Weems-Gorman thank you so much for taking your time to to prepare those comments and for answering our questions. I think this was very helpful to bring to light what Caribbean nation's unique challenges for climate change something that maybe we haven't thought of in the bigger climate picture writ large but neighbors so close to us and the unique challenges that you face not only as island nations but also as military leaders and so thank you for your your very senior level perspective on this particular issue. I'm giving a virtual round of applause right now I'm not actually going to applause or probably break Zoom but on behalf of all of us thank you for participating in this thank you for for bringing this issue to light and for educating. At one time I saw close to 80 participants online and as you know this will be made available for those that weren't able to join us live so your perspective and comments will go towards that goal of educating the students here at our Naval institutions. So on behalf of of all the hosts here and all the students once again thank you and we look forward to continuing to address these challenges with your nations. Thank you very much my pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for all who joined and I have a great rest of the afternoon.