UN General Assembly
2018

accepted as the responsibility of our time, one we must put our collective efforts behind to arrest. It was only after Prime Minister Skeritt left this Hall last year that international experts completed the post-disaster needs assessment for Dominica. Their conclusions disclosed that a single hurricane had in a few hours caused loss and damage equivalent to 226 per cent of our country’s gross domestic product (GDP). A mere two years earlier, a tropical storm had wiped out the equivalent of 90 per cent of our GDP. The cost of rebuilding a better and more resilient nation comes with a price tag far in excess of what small developing States like Dominica are able to meet single-handedly. That is exacerbated by the debilitating impact that those events have on economic activities. It deprives the country of much-needed revenue at a critical time. As I speak before the Assembly at this very moment, dangerous storms are gathering in the Western Atlantic. As climate change warms the oceans and feeds the rainstorms, the risk of future loss and damage increases. Yet the price of the production and consumption of goods that contribute to climate change has not been set to compensate us for our losses and damages resulting from that change.