At the 40th CARICOM conference held over three days from 3rd July in Saint Lucia, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Allen Chastanet, introduced the SIDS Resilience Foundation and Project Lodge. The proposal calls for the collection of private sector funds to assist Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in establishing governance structures and programs aimed at alleviating the challenges and consequences felt by SIDS as a result of global warming and climate change. Present at the meeting was the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, who recognized the impact of climate change on SIDS, emphasized the importance of security co-operation in the region and committed the UN to improve access for small states to development financing.
Prime Minister Chastanet indicated the intent behind the project was to source sustainable compensation to mitigate the unfair effects global warming is having on SIDS as a result of actions of larger states. “This is not to tap into the funds we currently have but this is funds we believe that this region is due as a result of what’s taking place with the global warming and climate change…The SIDS are only a half a percent of the emissions and if we are to have adaptation, it is impossible, and studies have proven that by the IMF for us to use our current sources or to borrow money directly to be able to fulfill our needs from an adaptation perspective.”
Founding partner of Island Impact and Former Director of the UN Development Programme’s Center of Excellence for the Sustainable Development of SIDS is one of many experts that echo Chastanet’s sentiments. “Small island states are definitely not the ones responsible for climate change, but they are the first to suffer from it.”
According to the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG), climate models suggest there will be drier wet seasons and longer dry seasons in the Caribbean. SIDS account for a mere 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, however, are likely to be the worst affected by the effects of climate change, as 30% of their combined population live at an average of less than 5 meters above sea level. Research, including a report released by the UN Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) in 2015, indicates SIDS is likely to experience climate change at a harsher scope than other countries, contending with effects such as rising sea levels, increases in weather extremes, coastline erosion, coral reef degradation, biodiversity loss, population displacement, and infrastructure destruction. The ongoing implications of these effects are expected to range from a loss of trade in local industries such as fisheries and aquaculture, a consequential decline of GDP, food insecurity and deteriorating health conditions.
Narrowing closer to the extreme end of effects, a study released in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, ‘Climate change, conflict, and health’, found that climate change increases the chance of conflict. More specifically researchers believe diminished resources, a lack of arable land and water could lead to conflict between ethnic groups or nations, the risk of civil unrest rises as state capacity to provide public goods declines, and a deterioration of conditions and unemployment means the opportunity cost of participating in crime diminishes, potentially leading to greater violence.
The 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report indicates some effects of climate change have already been felt by SIDS. Preventative measures must be installed at a global level to inhibit the development of a crisis as mentioned above. This must include a true commitment from all countries, particularly developed countries that contribute most to carbon dioxide emissions, to instill behaviours that combat climate change. To counter the effects of climate change, as well as prevent major food insecurity in the SIDS, the IPC-IG recommends long-standardized principles of land use methods must be ‘unlearned’ and replaced instead with traditional land stewardship, while unfair food and agricultural subsidies need to be eliminated from the trading system. SIDS must also be granted the autonomy to facilitate programs that counter the effects of climate change they are experiencing, while larger developed countries must abide by these; this includes supporting the notion of the Resilience Foundation and Project Lodge.
Momentum is building in the Caribbean, to seriously tackle the effects of climate change. In the ongoing debate of climate change, this region can no longer be ignored. CARICOM is expected to convene again in September to present further details on the Resilience Foundation and Project Lodge, with the hopes of getting multilateral support from overseas development assistance. Jamaica is also set to host the IV Ministerial Meeting of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas in February 2020, as well as the Seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the Caribbean in July 2020.
