Tackling climate change is a global life-or-death proposition, but the stakes are particularly high for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), whose short-term survival is at risk. The tenor of many Caribbean leaders' COP26 speeches reflects this dramatic reality.
"Our people are watching, and our people are taking note. And are we really going to leave Scotland without the resolve and the ambition that is sorely needed to save lives and to save our planet?" exhorted Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. (Guardian)
Climate change is an “existential threat” to the Caribbean, reports Global Voices. Activists in the region have rallied around the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 C message through a campaign website called "1.5 to stay alive," created by Panos Caribbean. The reality, however, is that the Caribbean needs to prepare for some amount of already inevitable change, which means the region’s second major priority at COP26 is securing climate finance for adaptation.
Several leaders, among them Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne pressed forcefully for a discussion of loss and damage. They are, in effect, demanding reparations of a sort for countries that bear little responsibility for the emissions warming the earth — but are already suffering the effects, reports the New York Times.
Many developing countries—including the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), to which the many Caribbean countries belong—feel the issue of Loss and Damage should have a much higher profile at COP26. "We are already experiencing Loss and Damage in the Caribbean, forcing people to leave their homes due to floods, landslides and so on," Le-Anne Roper, the senior technical officer for adaptation in the climate change division of Jamaica’s government, told Global Voices.
In September the AOSIS issued a Leaders’ Declaration which largely focuses on climate change and sets out some of the issues they wish to see raised at COP26. By demanding that SIDS, which are disproportionately affected by climate change, receive a higher share of climate finance, the Leaders’ Declaration frames climate change as a rights issue, according to Henrice Altink at the University of York blog.
In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mottley reiterated a call for countries to set aside $500 billion a year, not in cash, but in “special drawing rights from the IMF – [International Monetary Fund]” for 20 years that could create a trust to help those countries between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
In response to a question from Amanpour, Mottley warned that forced migration would be a natural consequence of failing to act on climate change. She said those who had a problem with it, would then have to deal with the consequences. (Nation News)
To meet the Paris agreement, the world would have to eliminate 53.5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide each year for the next 30 years. Avinash Persaud also points to IMF Special Drawing Rights as a key tool to meet that difficult goal. (Vox EU)
More COP26
- Acclaimed British-Trinidadian visual artist Zak Ové and the Costa award-winning Caribbean-born novelist Monique Roffey released a scorching poster evoking the return of paradise after the collapse of “Babylon”, represented as the oil industry and the powers that stoke it. Created by XR Writers Rebel, the image forms part of their street presence during COP26. (Repeating Islands)
- Young climate activists from the Caribbean say they have gotten little to no support to attend COP26 despite representing the demographic that stands to face the worst effects of the climate crisis, reports Climate Tracker.
- A new study by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), Climate Analytics and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) highlights key barriers and opportunities for civil society organisations (CSOs) in accessing climate finance and improving their engagement for climate action in the Caribbean region.
- The Presidents of Guyana and Suriname appealed to leaders at COP26 for payments to keep their forests intact and consequently, help mitigate the harmful effects of climate change such as flooding. “Forest-rich countries must be provided with the incentives necessary to keep their forests intact and to reduce deforestation and forest degradation,” Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali stated during his address. (Climate Tracker)
More Climate Justice and Energy
- The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and the Prime Minister of Tuvalu signed an agreement allowing for litigation before international courts. This move will allow for a legal path to address the severe damage to Small Island States caused by climate change, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.
- Increased plastic pollution is destroying Caribbean mangroves and producing microplastics, which more easily move throughout coastal and ocean systems and spread contamination at several levels,” Mona Webber, professor of marine biology and director of the Centre for Marine Sciences at the University of West Indies told the Jamaica Gleaner.
Public Security
- Bahamas National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the outcome of Royal Bahamas Police Force Disciplinary Tribunal proceedings should not be kept secret from Bahamians unless a compelling rationale exists. (Tribune 242)
Migration
- Countries in the hemisphere are failing to provide international protection and safety for Haitians on the move, exposing them to a range of human rights violations, including detentions and illegal pushbacks by authorities; extortion; anti-Black racial discrimination; abuses by armed groups, including gender-based violence; and lack of access to adequate housing, healthcare, and employment, said Amnesty International and Haitian Bridge Alliance in a new briefing. (El País)
- "With migration increasing throughout the Americas, border policy is no longer a sufficient means to control immigration," writes Andrew Selee in a New York Times guest essay. "The United States must enlist other countries in the hemisphere to become partners in measures to prevent recurrent political and humanitarian crises that force people to flee their homelands."
Feminism
- "Caribbean feminists and feminisms come from a rich, radical, and deeply transgressive tradition," explains the Equality Fund's Amina Doherty. But "for far too long, Caribbean feminist movements have been sorely underfunded. This has had significant implications on the ways that Caribbean feminist movements have been able to organize and sustain their work."
Culture
- As world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26, read the special adda series, a collection of short stories, poems and texts by Commonwealth writers – including from Jamaica, Guyana and Bermuda – responding to the climate emergency.
Critter Corner
- Animals in Cuba's National Zoo took advantage of the peace and quiet brought on by the coronavirus pandemic for romantic encounters that resulted in a bumper crop of exotic and endangered baby animals. (Reuters)
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