Mediterranean (MED) Sea represents 30% of the world tourism and tourism activity is the main economic driver. On one hand, climate change affects negatively the environment for tourism and, on the other hand, traditional tourism activity contributes to climate change through emissions of greenhouse gases. For a sustainable future, this negative feedback relationship should change. Any environmental structural damage in the region would badly impact the economic and political stability because international tourism receipts have a crucial socio-economic role in the Mediterranean countries.
In order to have a clear idea of risk assessments of the future damage that climate change could cause in the MED region, as well as the means to cope with it, our paper analyzes the risks currently being faced by the Caribbean region which is both an attractive tourist destination and more and more exposed to extreme weather phenomena related to climate change. Our analysis is mainly based on insurance companies’ studies. They are at the forefront and were the pioneers in the risk development of models to anticipate future climate damages, including compensation and insurance premiums. This analysis provides a realistic view of what the people of MENA region might experience and what actions can be taken and lessons to be learned.
In order to have a clear idea of risk assessments of the future damage that climate change could cause in the MED region, as well as the means to cope with it, our paper analyzes the risks currently being faced by the Caribbean region which is both an attractive tourist destination and more and more exposed to extreme weather phenomena related to climate change. Our analysis is mainly based on insurance companies’ studies. They are at the forefront and were the pioneers in the risk development of models to anticipate future climate damages, including compensation and insurance premiums. This analysis provides a realistic view of what the people of MENA region might experience and what actions can be taken and lessons to be learned.
Added to this microeconomic effect, we introduce a macroeconomic analysis about climatic phenomena in the short and medium terms. The observation of the disasters that Latin America and the Caribbean region have undergone in recent decades shows us the net impact in terms of the economic growth. This gives us an idea of the potential losses in the MENA region and the efforts to be made. This cost-benefit analysis is increasingly integrated into the implementation of climate change policies.
Effective actuarial studies of insurance companies and macroeconomic models incorporating the increasing intensity of extreme weather events are both a good understanding of the reality and a model of effective actions to be undertaken to avoid or to reduce the negative impacts of climate change in MED and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) areas in the future.