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= Climate Change in Puerto Rico =

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Greenhouse gas emissions
Listing all Latin American and Caribbean Countries according to their CO₂ emissions, Puerto Rico is on place 19 with industrial emissions, energy consumption, and transportation as the main sources of the island's net greenhouse gas emissions.

The country's gross CO₂ emissions rose by 80% between the years of 1990 and 2005. After 2005, emissions went back by roughly 42% until 2018. However, this decrease in emissions is partly induced by a decrease in Puerto Rico's population. Between 2010 and 2020, the population dropped by almost 12% from about 3.8 to 3.3 million inhabitants due to migrational movements to the U.S. as a result of the country's vulnerability to natural disasters and economic insecurities.

Energy Consumption
Puerto Rico’s energy consumption is nearly 70 times higher than its energy production. Compared to the U.S. average, the per capita consumption, however, is only about one-third as high. 58% of the country’s total energy consumption is rooted in petroleum products. With 28%, natural gas accounts for the second highest share while coal facilitates 12% of Puerto Rico’s energy use and only roughly 2% are coming from renewable energy sources.

Fossil Fuel Production
There are no official accounts of Puerto Rico having reserves or own production of fossil fuels. The island's energy consumption is mainly based on imported fossil fuels.

Mitigation and Adaptation
As a developing country, Puerto Rico has a relatively small carbon footprint leading to a small global impact of mitigation efforts such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or increasing carbon sequestration in Puerto Rico. However, Puerto Rico recognizes the shared responsibility to work towards the achievement of emission reduction goals and engages in the development of mitigation plans and regulations on national and multinational levels. The publication of the first Puerto Rico State of the Climate report in 2013 has spured engagement in elaborating climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies concerning environmental as well as social and economic issues.

Mitigation and adaptation approaches

 * The NGO Vida Marina in Puerto Rico found that dune restoration can be supported by making use of the concept of biomimicry. The dune formation is thereby accelerated by putting small pieces of wood into the sand that effectively immitate the sand collecting property of coastal vegetation.
 * Different coral population enhancement techniques as well as restocking measures are being applied to stabilize populations that have been disturbed by, for example, storms. The plantation of elkhorn corals can, moreover, have a buffer effect taking away wave energy and helping to build up ramparts that play an important role with respect to the sea level rise threatening Puerto rico as they have a stabilizing function for cays.
 * Sea level changes and coastal erosion as well as the presence of invasive species especially in the southern karst also favour considerations about expanding protected areas such as the Guánica Commonwealth Forest.
 * The expanding of existing and creation of new marine protected areas as well as putting in place education programs, improving the management of human activities are expected to lower coral deseases and also favour other marine species and habitats. Coral survival should also be supported by fostering species with high genetic variability. These efforts should also be accompanied by restricting land-based sources of pollution.
 * Vulnerability assessments that account for climate change induced habitat changes can help to determine areas that would be suitable for the relocation of especially vulnerable species.
 * The improvement of water quality by decreasing the content of nutrients through improvement of drain traps for storm water or the installation of control systems for erosion can contribute significantly to the preotection of coastal and marine habitats.

Policies and legislation
Article VI, § 19 of the constitution of Puerto Rico includes the claim of public policy to use and manage natural resources as effectively as possible and, thus, contribute to the Puerto Rican welfare. The validity of this mandate persists across any law or regulation. It has not been interpreted specifically with respect to climate change yet but initiatives and policies aimed at sustainable developemnt including the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to its consequences are thriving.

Act No. 82-2010, as amended “Public Policy on Energy Diversification by Means of Sustainable and Alternative Renewable Energy in Puerto Rico Act”
This law demands the Executive Branch to set the frame for future generations to benefit from a healthy environment, economic development and stable energy prices considering that the current energy policy is heavily relying on fossil fuels and imports from other countries. In this context, the law also sets up so called Renewable Portfolio Standards and mandatory goals for the generation of renewable energy with time horizons reachichng from short to rather long-term targets.

Act No. 17-2019, “Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act”
This act is an amendment to the above Act No. 82-2010 that extends the Renewable Portfolio Standards by, among other aspects, setting the goal of generating energy from 100% renewable sources until 2050 (Objective No. 7) and limiting the use of coal as a source of energy to the year 2028.

Act No. 33-2019, “Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change of Puerto Rico Act”
This act puts in place the first public policy of Puerto Rico for climate change. This includes the establishment of an account for greenhouse gas emissions, it requests the acceptance of a Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience Plan organized by a division into different sectors and defines reduction targets. Moreover, a Committee of Experts and Advisers on Climate Change and a Joint Commission on Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change of the Legislative Assembly were set up and the presentation of first results of the above mandates was scheduled for April 2021.

Local initiatives

 * Casa Pueblo


 * Caribbean Climate Hub (CCH)

The CCH is located in Puerto Rico and part of a network of ten regional hubs collaborating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide local people in the agricultural sector with scientific knowledge and technical support to react to stresses like droughts and floods imposed by climate change in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Moreover, the CCH facilitates collaboration with local and regional agencies, universities and the public in order to drive forward climate change adaptation processes. With these efforts, the CCH is make a significant contribution to sustaining the availability of food, water, and other vital resources in the carribean region that is strongly affected by climate change.


 * Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research program (LUQ)

The LUQ unites research groups that aim to achieve a better understanding of climate change in a tropical environment and increase the ability to protect it respectively with their investigations. Data collected by LUQ data is made accesible to the general public and collaboration with other scientists, students and volunteers is an essential part of LUQ's work. The resulting findings are, for example, communicated using print publications or workshops and also reach policy makers among other groups of society. Community involvement at LUQ is also fostered by educational programs including for example internships or interactive computer modules that allow students to get involved with the research of LUQ. The initiative is mainly funded by the National Science Foundation, the University of Puerto Rico’s Department of Environmental Sciences, and the USDA Forest Service’s International Institute of Tropical Forestry.

International support
As a result of the damages and suffering in Puerto Rico caused by natural disasters like Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria and earthquakes, federal aid programs have been set up to support the government of Puerto Rico with the respective recovery and reconstruction. These financial supports are estimated to include but not limited to:


 * $45 billion in Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) Public Assistance program grants,
 * $3 billion in FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (“HMGP”) grants
 * $19.9 billion in Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (“CDBG-DR”) grants.

The FEMA Public Assistance program has been granted by the President of the United States and provides funding for states, territories, or tribes as "recipients" as well as local governments as "subrecipients" and is mainly directed towards the reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.

Apart from reconstruction, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program aims to support disaster planning and prevent future disasters from harming people and their property. While suggesting long-term and cost-efficient mitigation plans, the main idea of this program is to make sure that the time of reconstruction after a disaster is simultaneously used to implement respective mitigative measures to reduce the degree of repetitive damage in case of future extreme events.