By ERIC ROSE
Bahamas Information Services
#NASSAU, Bahamas, August 16, 2022 – – During his official remarks at the opening plenary session of the Caribbean regional heads of government meeting in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change 27 (COP 27), on August 16, 2022, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas and the Minister of Finance Hon. Philip Davis noted to those present that they all shared a determination to make significant progress together in the coming days.
“As many of you know, late August and early September has become a very poignant time on the Bahamian calendar,” noted Prime Minister Davis, at the Meeting held at the Baha Mar Convention Center. “September 1ststr it will be three years since Hurricane Dorian made landfall on our shores.”
“The physical, psychological, social and economic damage is still very much with us,” he added. “All over the world, we’ve seen severe heat waves, wildfires and droughts that are further, dire evidence of the accelerating impact of climate change.”
Prime Minister Davis said that, with the climate changing faster than predicted, the challenges faced by all were
gloomy; but they “were not insurmountable”.
“One thing is clear: success will require collective action,” he said.
“If we advance our interests simply as individual small island developing states, our voices will be drowned out, unable to be heard over stronger, wealthier, carbon-producing interests,” he added.
Prime Minister Davis said: “Friends: There truly is strength in numbers; and if we stick together, we are less likely to fall apart. And so this regional meeting is critical. Our shared characteristics go beyond our physical geography.
“We need to find effective and efficient ways to adapt to new realities,” he added. “We must restructure our lives and our living environment to mitigate the disasters that are becoming more frequent and more severe.
“Easy to say – much harder to pay.”
Prime Minister Davis noted that the Caribbean had been identified as the region with the highest number of indebted countries. He said that while there were many reasons for this, in many cases a major contributor to the debt is the borrowing associated with efforts to recover from the impact of climate change.
“Here in the Bahamas, we undertook an exercise that revealed that more than 50% of our outstanding debt can be linked to the impacts of hurricanes that hit us between 2015 and 2019,” said Prime Minister Davis. “Our countries are struggling with accumulated debt from climate disasters.”
He added: “What does this mean for the development of our nations, when our risk profile is becoming so severe that insurers are questioning their willingness to provide risk facilities to compensate for climate disasters? Simply put, we risk becoming uninsurable.”
Prime Minister Davis said many, if not all, of the countries represented at the Meeting were already facing challenges in accessing climate-related funding.
By acting in “common cause,” he said, they can move with more authority and impact to address legacy issues that have prevented them from making meaningful progress.
“That doesn’t mean there aren’t differences between us,” he noted. “On some issues, we can agree to disagree. With others, we can use this forum to find and build consensus before engaging with our peers around the world.”
Prime Minister Davis said COP26 in Glasgow promised a renewed commitment to action. He noted that in the previous two weeks, both the United States and Australia had taken “historic” steps forward to address emissions.
“But the conflict in Ukraine, rising inflation in energy costs along with other goods and services, and significant disruption to supply chains have put pressure on pledges to curb carbon emissions around the world,” Prime Minister Davis said. .
“The progress in the United States and Australia is significant,” he noted. “The richest and most powerful countries in the world produce 80% of global emissions. They can act – when they choose.”
“Their progress also shows that nothing is inevitable in this great war of our time,” stressed Prime Minister Davis. “We cannot stand still, or allow others to languish in inaction, when forward movement is required.”
The Prime Minister noted that there is a lot of room for innovation.
“I don’t just mean technological innovation — I also mean innovation in the way we think about climate challenges and solutions,” he said. “Consider, for example, the Call to Action on Living Lands (CALL), which emerged from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Rwanda earlier this summer.
“The Call to Action highlights the importance of building natural resilience by halting and reversing biodiversity loss and developing nature-based and ecosystem-based approaches to combat climate change.”
Prime Minister Davis noted that while it was true that almost all of the hard work to combat climate change lay ahead of them all, it was also true that their ingenuity was up to the challenge.
“And so, friends, I encourage your more active and energetic participation in these discussions. Let’s bring our best ideas to the table,” he said. “Let’s work together to build a common solution regarding climate risk insurance and other climate risk facilities.
“And let’s take practical steps to improve access to climate finance.”
Prime Minister Davis noted that they were aware that, going into COP27, work was being done to advance the implementation of a Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, along with the establishment of a loss and damage facility.
“These are important tools to support our countries,” he said.
“However, we also need to ensure that risk or insurance facilities are also in the solution box to help our people,” added Prime Minister Davis. “Access to climate finance should not be unclear or burdensome. And applying per capita development assistance eligibility should not be taken as the primary consideration for providing climate finance; if so, it would mean that many Caribbean states would rise from scratch.”
Prime Minister Davis said they should all work together to advance the use of a Multidimensional Vulnerability Index to reflect the true needs of Small Island Developing States; and work to persuade donors and partners to ensure that all SIDS are eligible for access to bilateral climate finance.
“Colleagues, we are at an important moment, when the New Quantified Collective Target for Climate Finance is currently being assessed by countries operating within the framework of the UNFCCC,” he said.
“If we can do the heavy lifting here, our chances of success are greatly improved,” he added. “We are more likely to avoid the mistakes of the past.
“And we will have a better chance of securing a better future for all of us.”
Prime Minister Davis said it was his “fervent hope” that the meeting would become an annual event where shared interests, shared objectives and mutually agreed protocols lead to “results that will ensure our very survival”.
“It is no exaggeration to say that our very lives depend on it; and the only way forward is together,” he said.
Photo Caption: Prime Minister of the Bahamas and Minister of Finance Hon. Philip Davis speaks, August 16, 2022 in Baha Mar, during his official address at the opening plenary session of the Meeting of Regional Heads of Government of the Caribbean in Preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change 27 of the Parties (COP 27), of which will take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in November.
(BIS Photos/Eric Rose)
