Miami Mayor Testified Before UN Global Commission On Climate Adaptation

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - One day before the United Nations released its new climate change report, Miami's mayor was in New York to talk about what his city was doing to prepare for rising seas and more potent storms.

On Tuesday, Mayor Francis Suarez testified before the U.N. Global Commission on Climate Adaptation, which is chaired by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Suarez told the commission that Miami has invested millions of dollars in climate change remediation projects.

"We've done something unusual for Miami, we are taxing ourselves to the tune of 200 million dollars, a significant amount of money but we've seen more damage from superstorms just in the last five years," he said.

Suarez, who chairs the Environment Committee for the US Conference of Mayors, said after speaking with other mayors in their last committee meeting they declared a state of climate emergency. He said the numbers they are seeing are "very, very scary."

"We were just recently missed by a superstorm which was a combination of Hurricane Andrew, with 200 mph sustained winds, and Hurricane Irma which had six to eight-foot storm surges. Unfortunately, our brothers and sisters in the Bahamas, just 100 miles away, got hit with a Category 5 hurricane that had storm surges in the 18 to 20-foot range and sat on top of them for two successive days," he said.

The UN's new climate change report paints a grim picture if changes are not made.

According to the report, climate change is making the world's oceans warm, rise, lose oxygen and get more acidic at an ever-faster pace, while melting even more ice and snow. The report also projects three feet of rising seas by the end of the century, fewer fish, and stronger hurricanes if global warming doesn't slow down.

Data in the report represents the work of 104 scientists from 36 countries and references nearly seven thousand publications.