New IPCC report (March 4, 2022)

Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released this week. Scientists point out that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanization, social inequalities, losses and damages from extreme events and a pandemic, jeopardizing future development. (Eyewitness News)

The report concludes that nations are continuing to fall behind in their plans to protect cities, forests, farmlands, oceans and coastlines from the hazards that climate change has unleashed so far; such as record breaking droughts and rising sea levels.

The report makes it clear that small islands will not be able to adapt to a world that warms beyond 1.5°C, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) said. “This report spoke to the collapse and possible extinction of ecosystems if we maintain our current trajectory towards emissions reductions. We must act quickly to reduce emissions — as SIDS lives and livelihoods will be the casualties of a slow race to emissions reduction,” said AOSIS’ lead climate negotiator H.E. Ambassador Conrad Hunte.

Research revealed in the report has directly linked the benefits of governments mobilizing large-scale investment in climate change adaptation to the acceleration of gross domestic product growth. (Nassau Guardian)

"One striking fact from the report is that from 2010 to 2020, human mortality from floods, droughts, and storms was 15 times higher in high (sic) vulnerable regions, including Africa, South Asia, Central & South America, SIDS, & the Arctic. This raises the following question: Is it too much to ask for justice for nations on the frontline of the climate crisis?" writes Selwin Hart, Special Adviser and Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Action at United Nations

The report also looks at how lack of education and awareness around climate change in the general public, as well as limited cultural and social appreciation for the risks, is a significant challenge for effective climate change adaptation. (Nassau Guardian)

Diplomacy

• 141 nations -- including all of those in the Caribbean, except for Cuba -- voted in favour of a U.N. General Assembly motion condemning the invasion of Ukraine, while just five – Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Syria and Russia – opposed it. (See yesterday's post.) Thirty-five countries abstained from voting on the resolution that demands the immediate and complete withdrawal of all Russian forces from Ukrainian territory.
  
  
• This week  at the U.N. Cuba's representative said the country defends international law and will unambiguously support Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace. He noted, however, that it is impossible to rigorously and honestly analyze the situation in Ukraine without considering factors that led to the use of force. 
  
  
• The United States and the European Union decision to sanction Russian banks could also end up punishing Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela, who are dependent on the Russian financial system to bypass their own U.S. sanctions, reports the Miami Herald. 
  
  
• CARICOM has left the possible imposition of sanctions on Russia to individual member states following hours of intense deliberation on the second day of the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government in Belize. (Jamaica Gleaner)
  
  
• In the Caribbean, economists and leaders are reflecting on how conflict in the breadbasket of Europe will affect an import dependent region that is still reeling from the financial impacts of Covid-19, amidst supply chain disruptions, hikes in oil and commodity prices, rising shipping costs and limited availability of vessels and containers, reports Forbes.

Climate Justice and Energy

• A December judicial ruling against a luxury hotel in construction on St. Barts might signal a turning point in the hyper-development of this tropical Arcadia for the rich, according to the New York Times.
  
  
• Caribbean countries are receiving more funding and support to prepare health Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessments, a key step in building Health National Adaptation Plans (HNAPs).
  
  
• The update of the seismic hazard map of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands will have to wait until at least 2026, despite the fact that last summer, the resident commissioner in Washington, Jenniffer González Colón, announced that the final product of the new version of this cartographic model could be ready by 2024. (Centro de Periodismo Investigativo)
  
  
• Stony coral tissue loss disease is sweeping throughout The Bahamas, decimating coral reefs and destroying fish habitats at an alarming rate. (Eyewitness News)

Finance and Economics

• A new Atlantic Council report identifies how the withdrawal of correspondent banking relations, otherwise known as de-risking, affects Caribbean economies, people, and US-Caribbean relations. Access to the global financial system and development tools is critical for Caribbean economic recovery, growth, and resilience. 
  
  
• Key to this access is correspondent banking, but over the past several years, most Caribbean governments and banks have seen a steady decline in correspondent banking relationships as institutions across the world deem the region as too small to be profitable due to high compliance costs and the perception that the region is a high-risk jurisdiction.

Democratic Governance

• A number of Guyanese civil society organizations issued a blistering statement criticising the government’s handling of the country, accusing it of operating with impunity, while noting that the bewildering pace and range of official decision-making is rendering the administration accountable to no one and generating a widely felt dilemma of who to trust and what to believe. (Kaieteur News)

Migration

• The U.S. Coast Guard stopped an overloaded sailboat with 179 Haitian migrants crammed on its deck off the Bahamas, on Sunday, reports the Miami Herald. 
  
  
• A wall the Dominican Republic is building along its border with Haiti could increase conflicts, according to organizations working in both countries, reports the Haitian Times.
  
  
• The true motives underlying Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader's border crackdown are political, writes Garry Pierre-Pierre in the Haitian Times. "Bashing of Haitians has been a tried-and-true tactic among Dominican officials for decades, and President Abinader is pulling out that ace to win reelection."

Decolonization

• Capitalism and Slavery, a book of unpalatable truths about Britain’s slave trade has become a UK bestseller, almost 80 years after author Eric Williams (later Trinidad and Tobago's prime minister) was told it would never be published. His central argument was that the abolition of the slave trade was not born out of humanitarian wishes but of economic necessity, reports the Guardian.

Culture

• Jacmel's Kanaval's celebrations are a showcase for Haiti’s artists and a trip through the looking glass for animal lovers. The town’s festivities are renowned for the papier-maché masks that don’t so much depict animals as conjure visions of them, reports Atlas Obscura.
• Duolingo launched its new Haitian Creole course for English speakers. (Duolingo)
  

Events

• 11 March -- "How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean." Author Professor Sir Hilary Beckles will join SOAS Director Adam Habib and SOAS President Zeinab Badawi to debate the book, but also the issue of global reparations. SOAS University London.
  
  
• 16 March -- Reducing disaster risk through a gender-responsive midterm review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction -- UN Women
  
  
• 17 March -- Puerto Rico Climate Change Council (PRCCC) will release its State of the Climate Report 2022 -- Register
  
  
• 24 March -- Open Society Foundations Seminar: Counting the Cost of Exclusion: Linking Criminal Law, Political Exclusion, and Socioeconomic Inequality. The event will be moderated by Tracy Robinson, deputy dean in the faculty of law at the University of West Indies. Registration. 
  
  
• 29 March -- Journalistic Perspectives: Responsibility for Climate Change/ Intergenerational Impacts/The Cost of Adaptation -- Media Institute of the Caribbean. Register. 
• 29 March -- Climate Justice: Journalistic Perspectives -- Media Institute of the Caribbean - Register

Opportunities

• Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta will be offering the following study options, fully online or blended: Master of Arts (Research on Islands and Small States) and  Doctor in Philosophy (PhD), both full time and part time options. Further information, including scholarships, here.  
  

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