Politics
Caribbean Forced to choose between climate change impact and MDGs
Climate change is forcing the nine-member Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to choose between expending scarce resources to deal with its impact or other pressing development goals. “There is a very thin line between consumption and conservation…progress and protection,” Grenada’s Environment Minister Roland Bhola told IPS. He explained that countries still have to fulfill the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include reducing poverty and hunger, while dealing with the impacts of climate change.
But there is a flicker of hope for these countries. The European Union (EU) has signed a financial agreement for 39.5 million East Caribbean dollars for a project designed to improve the sub-region’s natural resource base and its resilience to impacts of climate change.
The OECS consists of the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin islands. The head of the EU delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, ambassador Mikael Barford, has acknowledged that this is a “very vulnerable region” and that the project is a reflection of Europe’s commitment to support climate action in developing countries.
He also said, “The Caribbean is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world but we tend to ignore the threat that could occur as a result of the impact of climate change…” He then added, “On your doorsteps, scientists are warning that your 62-square-mile (161-square-kilometer) sister island of Barbuda is becoming one of the most vulnerable spots due to the consequences of climate change.”
He then said, “Already there is accelerated erosion taking place because of the rise in sea levels and it’s estimated that if this continues, a third of the island could be lost.” Antigua and Barbuda, the only country in the OECS to have appointed an ambassador for climate change, has had more than six hurricanes of various intensity over the last 20 years.
Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador Diann Black-Layne told IPS: “Climate change is impacting our country.” She said that many small island developing states (SIDS), were suffering percentage losses of their GDPs because of the impact of climate change. According to the ambassador, “We’ve had extreme weather, variation in rainfall, significant flooding and our waterways are not able to cope with the climate as we know it.”
In addition she said, “Antigua and Barbuda is known as a dry weather country and so we design our homes, our roads and our lives around that reality. But today it’s getting worse and we experience flooding that Antiguans never knew or experienced before.” Black-Layne, who is also the chief environmental officer here, explained that the authorities have undertaken many initiatives in planning for climate change but did not have the funding for adaptation measures.
