The Caribbean, it seems, among other developing and underdeveloped regions, can identify with at least one takeaway from the now concluded COP 27 Climate Change forum which, despite having drifted considerably into ‘overtime,’ failed to arrive at agreements commensurate with the sense of urgency associated with the extent of the global menace which climate change represents.
For the smaller island states of the region, particularly, plagued as they are with a yawning gap between the extent of the threat posed by climate change and a lack of resources with which to mitigate the threat, the ground-breaking decision taken in Egypt that a dedicated fund be created to support developing and underdeveloped countries seeking to respond to the consequences of climate-related crises, can be considered a significant breakthrough. As a corollary to this development, governments represented at COP 27 have agreed to establish a transitional committee that will be charged with making recommendations regarding a modus operandi for the operationalizing of the funding arrangements. A meeting of the Committee charged with that responsibility is scheduled to be convened ahead of next year’s COP 28 forum.
The decision on the ‘dedicated fund’ marks a concession not commonly made to poor countries by rich ones, the one-world-to-share rhetoric that had become so fashionable in diplomatic circles during the debate on a New International Order of more than three decades ago having, in the final analysis, fallen flat on its proverbial face. Ultimately, the ‘North’ simply refused to allow for an enabling environment in which the ‘South’ could be afforded the opportunity to benefit from at least a limited lift out of poverty.
Climate Change is, of course, a horse of a different colour. If nothing is done, all, in the fullness of time, will be consumed, even though it has to be said, that some countries, poorer ones overwhelmingly, sit decidedly closer to the doomsday door than others.
The reality here is that the island states of the Caribbean cannot afford to turn their backs on initiatives that appear designed to help respond to the weather-related excesses of climate change, which are growing incrementally worse and are manifestly having a wearing down effect on what for those countries is now an endless struggle for their survival. In the more extreme cases questions are, even now, being raised about the longer term survivability of those Caribbean island territories.
Unfortunately, what appears, in effect, to be something of a ‘silver lining’ that has materialized from COP 27 for the Caribbean comes against the backdrop of what continues to be seemingly intractable differences between and among the richer countries about, among other things, the degree of effort that countries, individually and collectively, should be making, to tackle what most see as an emergency.
Agreement in Egypt on what is known as a loss and damage fund, is significant in the sense that it encountered the assent of a group that included rich and poor countries alike, not a commonplace accomplishment in a global diplomatic environment where the rich/poor divide remains as sharp as ever. What one report described as “longtime holdouts like the United States and the European Union,” actually agreed to pay their way towards a fund for countries which, even now are uniquely vulnerable to climate change which, vulnerability will, down the road, be rendered worse by pollution which is disproportionately produced by wealthy, industrialized nations.
Unsurprisingly, if only for the reasons that such concessions by the North to the South are not a commonplace feature of international relations, the negotiators involved in the process and the assorted NGO’s that had served as aggressive lobbyists to such an option hailed the agreement on the creation of the Fund as a significant achievement, the rationale here being that it is not every day the developing countries and tiny island nations come together to lobby the rich and powerful for concessions.
From all reports the negotiations were not altogether uncomplicated. At the ongoing climate negotiations rich countries have, over time, become acutely ‘boxed in’ by the guilt syndrome trap that leaves them vulnerable on the basis of the contention that they are simply being asked to fix a problem for which they, primarily, are responsible. Contextually, while the fund will reportedly focus on helping to mitigate the effects of damage to facilities and resources, no payments will be made within the context of “liability and compensation provisions,” circumstances which rich countries have long sought to avoid lest they become vulnerable to legal liability and attendant lawsuits from countries that become victims of climate-related misfortunes. In other words, as the United States Climate Envoy John Kerry reportedly asserted, “loss and damage should not be equated with climate reparations.”
One concern that arises here has to do with whether or not, given the fact that there are islands in the Caribbean that remain continually vulnerable to climate-related disruptions, the ‘nitty gritty’ of just how the climate fund will operate will be settled with due haste. Indeed, the text of the actual agreement reportedly leaves issues ‘hanging,’ issues like just when the arrangement will be finalized and become operational and how exactly it is to be funded. These, one might add, are by no means small matters so that while, as far as we are told, the deal was sealed in Egypt it now becomes a matter of considerable importance that the restraints to the actualization of the process be ironed out as a matter of urgency.
