Dear Editor,
Stabroek News editorial on Tuesday November 22, 2022 entitled ‘Climate negotiations breakthrough for the Caribbean’ identified the ground- breaking decision that a dedicated fund be created to support developing and under developed countries seeking to respond to climate crises as a hall mark of the recently concluded COP 27 summit in Egypt. This European Union proposal has been reported in the international media as the ‘Loss and Damage Fund’. In addition, there were other positive take away from COP-27 summit to aggressively tackle looming climate crisis more urgently as an accident in waiting.
COP 27 took place against a backdrop of devastating impact of climate change, be it the ‘apocalyptic flood’ in Pakistan, food insecurity, life threating heat waves or frequent forest fires. Ever since the Rio summit in June 1992 in Brazil, dubbed the ‘’Earth Summit” that reconciled economic development with environment protection, there had been repeated calls for leaders to take action rather than just talk. Late President, Cheddi Jagan, argued that while the leaders have been moving from conference to conferences, the people have been moving from abyss to abyss. In this regard, Prime Minister Mia Mottley very passionate and thought-provoking speech at COP 27 was most welcomed and it went viral. She challenged those present that, ‘we have the collective capacity to transform. But the simple political will, this is necessary, not just to come here and make promises but to deliver on them, and to make definable differences in the lives of people whom we have a responsibility to serve, seems, still not capable of being produced’. A reality that could hardly be put better.
The Economist concluded that the headline achievement of COP 27 was that for the first time-demand for money to help the vulnerable recover from damages caused by climate change, ignored for three decades, was heeded; this added a third pillar of climate action alongside mitigation -cutting emission and adaption- and building climate resilient societies. Another notable achievement of COP-27 was the Bridgetown Initiative led by Prime Minister Mottley that called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide the equivalent of 650 billion in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) annually in concessional recourses to affected countries gained traction. The Bridgetown Initiative received strong support from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others.
Actions on climate change will be bolstered by the return of Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva as Brazil’s President. President- elect Lula is well placed to transition Brazil into a green superpower and a global leader in a carbon neutral economy with its vast tropical rain forest. Brazil, next to Guyana that also has a large tropical rain forest, will be a boost to the Low Carbon Development Strategy in Guyana, an economy that possessed all the resources for clean energy production. Finally, climate change is a global crisis that needs global policy and action. It has to be addressed on all three pillars mitigation, adaption and financing simultaneously. The recently concluded COP 27 has revived a multilateral approach to address climate crises.
Sincerely,
Rajendra Rampersaud
