Although the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially opened yesterday, recent weather activity would have given the uninitiated the impression that it was already in full force.

In January, for instance, we saw the formation of Alex, a rare winter subtropical storm that weakened within two days and was downgraded as it skirted the Azores islands in the eastern Atlantic.

Then, late last week, Tropical Storm Bonnie drenched the South Carolina coast in the United States over the weekend before being downgraded to a tropical depression.

Yesterday, weather forecasters were reported as saying that a tropical system may form in the eastern Gulf of Mexico next week and advised countries in the region to be on alert.

Last Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its forecast of a near-normal season with 10 to 16 named storms, comprising four to eight hurricanes and one to four “major” ones with winds reaching 111 mph and up.

Then, this week, we saw where the Caribbean was told to brace for a wetter than usual season with chances of more hurricane activity this year than in the past five years.

Against that background, we hope that Jamaica, and indeed our sister countries in the region, are well prepared for any eventualities that may result from the season.

Locally, our concern is not with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), because that agency is usually on the ball in terms of meeting its mandate, having had years of experience under its belt and due to the fact that it has enjoyed the benefit of good leadership.

Where we believe we have reason to worry is with what appears to be a softening of appreciation among regional governments, and indeed the Caribbean people, of the potentially damaging effects of climate change.

That attitude spawns a disregard for the environment that, if not corrected, will exacerbate damage to countries that are unfortunate enough to be hit by tropical storms, hurricanes or any system that produces extremely heavy rain.

Last year, we used this space to argue that regional governments should not ignore the advice of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to put systems in place to adequately deal with increases in mosquito-borne illnesses and weather-related issues, including floods and droughts.

The CDEMA had suggested that we would be courting disaster if we were neither investing in the ability to cope with these expected scenarios nor increasing the capacities of our first-responder core such as firefighters or our health services.

We hope that the region’s governments heeded the CDEMA’s advice. At the same time, we issue an appeal to people across the Caribbean to play their part in protecting the environment, because that is not just a job for governments.

We all have a stake in ensuring that our countries experience limited damage when the storms or other adverse weather systems hit us.