CARICOM Climate Change Meeting get underway in Saint Lucia
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Contact: Amanda Faye Clarke
Monday, September 14, 2009 – Ministers responsible for Climate Change in CARICOM are currently engaged in a two-day meeting today in Saint Lucia to strategize on a refined Regional position to address emerging concerns of the impact of Climate Change in the Caribbean.
Director of Sustainable Development at the CARICOM Secretariat Garfield Barnwell says core issues such as mitigation, adaptation, technology transfer and Finance are crucially important at this time.
He says the ministerial conference and negotiations are a significant step in the journey towards the upcoming Copenhagen Meeting in December, which will provide the platform to deal with the future environment of the Caribbean.
“This meeting is essentially for CARICOM member states relating their positions and they are supported by the relevant institutions that do play a role in the Caribbean Community agenda on Climate Change such as CDERA, CINH, the CMO and also the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Secretariat,” Mr. Barnwell said.
Chief Sustainable and Development Officer, Crispin D' Auvergne says Prime Minister Honourable Stephenson King, who is also the lead head on sustainable Development within CARICOM, is elated at the thrust forward to developing this new and harmonized policy to tackle Climate Change conditions. He says CARICOM has been negotiating under the framework of the Alliance of Small island States (AOSIS).
“We have not had any hurdles as a country or region in terms of getting our issues on the table or at the international level. The bigger concern is AOSIS being able to get what it wants. At the end of the day, it is the flow of resources, how much we will need to respond to climate change and how much will be provided by the countries responsible to tackle the problem,” Mr. d' Auvergne said.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is set for December 7 to 18, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark. |
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