The Bermudian Magazine – Summer 2026 Issue

Written by Walter Roban, former Minister of Home Affairs connects climate action to economic opportunity. Photograph by: Meredith Andrews.

For centuries, human societies have developed and perfected extraction-based practices, building economies that thrive on mining, drilling, deforestation and industrial manufacturing. While these activities have driven technological advancement and improved the quality of life for billions, they have also led to a widespread loss of biodiversity and the pollution of our land, ocean and air. Economic disparities — and inequities in education, healthcare and access to resources — have deepened this technological divide. The result is a global legacy of climate injustice and disproportionate climate obligations that demands to be addressed.

Now is that time. We must move towards models that prioritise the restoration, preservation and sustainable use of natural resources. This requires collective and deliberate action to confront the most urgent climate challenges and to halt the ongoing degradation of our planet — a crisis that is already costing the global economy an estimated $16 million per hour. This expense is only expected to rise, with the World Economic Forum predicting that damage resulting from climate change will cost the global economy $1.7 to $3.1 trillion each year by 2050. These global figures can feel distant and hard to relate to on a community or household level. But Bermuda has been experiencing the increasing impacts of climate change for years, not just in ways we have come to expect, but in quieter, less visible ways as well.

Read more here: https://www.thebermudian.com/people/what-if-preservation-was-profitable/