by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The second Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change was held in Grenada fromĀ September 28-29, 2023.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said regional countries need not be apologetic in getting the developed world to meet their commitment to deal with the impact of climate change.
Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean are some of the most vulnerable countries affected by climate change impacts, which will become critical if no appropriate action is taken.
Global warming, sea level rise, increased intensity and frequency of tropical cyclones, storm surges, heat waves, droughts, changing precipitation patterns, and coral bleaching are critical threats to SIDS.
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reports that 29 Caribbean countries were affected by at least one Category 4 or 5 TC in 2017, with an estimated cost of US$93 billion.
The two-day high-level meeting focused on six thematic areas:
Strengthening resilience and achieving prosperity in the face of increasing climate change impacts: boosting adaptation and addressing loss and damage.
Financing the transition to Renewable Energy in the Caribbean: tapping into the potential of wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectricity
Transforming international financial architecture, enabling access to blue and green finance, and regional collaboration on carbon pricing mechanisms.
Impacts on and opportunities in biological systems, looking at oceans and forests and land in the Caribbean
Accelerating e-mobility: lowering costs, reducing emissions, and building a reliable transportation system through electrification.
Building stronger national systems for climate transparency: accessing data and information to track progress, increase international accountability, and attract support.
Prime Minister Mitchell, along with the Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance Drew, with senior officials from Germany-based United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) Secretariat expressed that some of these developed countries were now beginning to experience the effects of climate change.
The fight is now about making good on the funds pledged by the developed world to deal with climate change issues. Mitchell said that CARICOM is well-placed to manage the trust funds, the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) is well-placed to manage the trust funds, and SIDS is well-placed to manage the trust funds.
The two-day summit came two months before the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), to be held from November 30 through December 12, 2023, where global leaders will once again meet to report, discuss and pledge on Climate Change mitigation.
