GIVEN what we just experienced from Hurricane Beryl, the latest report from the European Union climate monitor is not encouraging. In fact, to describe it as frightening wouldn’t be considered alarmist.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), last month was the hottest June on record worldwide.

Every month since June 2023 has eclipsed its own temperature record in a 13-month streak of unprecedented global heat, the C3S said in its report released this Monday.

An Agence France Presse report quotes C3S Service Director Mr Carlo Buontempo as saying, “This is more than a statistical oddity, and it highlights a large and continuing shift in our climate.”

Mr Buontempo is also reported as saying that, “Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm.”

The development, he said, is “inevitable” as long as humanity keeps adding heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

Anyone minded to challenge Mr Buontempo’s analysis would most likely think twice in acknowledging that over the past six months the world has experienced wild and destructive weather, ranging from floods to heatwaves.

Readers who keep abreast of global events will recall the scorching heat that blanketed large parts of the Earth from India to Saudi Arabia, the US and Mexico in the first six months of this year. We also saw extensive flooding in Kenya, China, Brazil, Afghanistan, Russia, and France from persistent rain which scientists have linked to a warmer planet.

Add to that wildfires in Greece and Canada, followed by last week’s rampage through the Caribbean by Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record, and you get a clear picture of the climate extremes affecting mankind.

Scientists tell us that this streak of record-breaking temperatures is linked to El Nino — the natural weather phenomenon that contributes to hotter weather globally — as well as a rise in sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic, the Northern Pacific, and Indian Ocean.

And even though the scientific community is pointing out that the world is about to transition into a La Nina phase, which has a cooling effect, we should not lapse into complacency in our climate resilience programme because we don’t get the impression that large nations are 100 per cent committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions — despite their fervent pledge to do so at each global climate summit.

Just last November a report from Human Climate Horizons pointed to the importance of shoreline defences because the extent of coastal flooding has increased over the past 20 years as a result of sea-level rise.

The report listed Kingston among a number of capital cities worldwide that could permanently lose five per cent or more of their land to increases in sea levels by the end of the century if their shoreline defences are inadequate.

A lot of work has been done in that regard locally, most notably along the Palisadoes Peninsula, the eastern portion of Kingston Harbour, and other sections of the island.

It is, though, a very expensive venture, as Senator Matthew Samuda — the state minister for environment and climate change — often tells us. But it’s a necessary expense that, if done properly, will complement other vital mitigation measures.