3.3 – Global governance: human rights and environmental
Hurricane Melissa, which struck the Caribbean in late October 2025, was among the most powerful and destructive storms ever recorded in the region. Exceptionally warm sea-surface temperatures of around 30°C provided ideal conditions for rapid intensification of the storm as it formed over tropical waters, ultimately reaching Category 5 strength with sustained winds close to 300 kilometres per hour. While hurricanes are clearly a natural phenomenon, climate change and the warming of oceans means that stronger hurricanes now occur much more frequently.
In Jamaica, approximately 70% of Kingston was submerged, while the parishes of Westmoreland and St Elizabeth recorded floodwaters up to 2m deep. Over 500,000 homes lost power; 180,000 people were displaced; and the total damage was estimated at around $6 billion, equivalent to roughly one third of the country’s GDP. Infrastructure, tourism facilities, and agricultural land were devastated, exposing the structural vulnerability of small island developing states (SIDS) economies that depend heavily on climate-sensitive sectors.
Former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christina Figueres, referred to the “unfairness of climate change” when discussing Hurricane Melissa’s impact. While SIDS contribute only a fraction of a percentage-point of global carbon emissions, they bear a disproportionate brunt of climate change’s impact due to their location along precarious coastal equatorial zones. Some international mechanisms, such as the Paris Agreement (2015), negotiated under Figueres’ leadership, and the Loss and Damage Fund created at COP27 in Egypt, seek to mitigate this inequality. However, they have so far proved to be insufficient, and as global emissions seem headed towards a pathway of approximately +2.5°C warming (compared to the Paris Agreement’s +2°C threshold), the limitations of global environmental governance are painfully apparent.