Given the myriad developmental-related holes that needs to be ‘filled’ across the Caribbean, there usually is very little, if any, respite for the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), in terms of its overarching agenda at the top of which is the material transformation of a clutch of (mostly) island states saddled with challenges that have to do mostly with their chronic developmental deficiencies.
At the now ongoing 2023 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, (COP 28), currently underway in Dubai, the Bank will be expected to intensify its lobbying for the allocation of increased resources to the region, particularly for the financing of actions that will mitigate the increasing climate-related threats confronting the mostly tiny island states that comprise the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The CDB will be challenged to use the COP 28 forum, not just to highlight the challenges the climate crisis is posing for the Caribbean, but also to mount a lobbying effort that will ensure that its lobby secures favourable attention among the host of appeals for support by delegations from other parts of the world.
Even before the start of the Dubai forum, the CDB had already put its hand up for the region by throwing its support behind the financing of the CARICOM pavilion in Dubai which will not only serve as a ‘billboard’ for the forum where the vast majority of the international community is represented but also as a hub for regional interests at COP 28. The Bank’s President, Dr. Higinus ‘Jean’ Leon had, prior to the start of the COP forum, made public the CDB’s plan to join forces with partner organizations from the region to push for more definitive global actions to address Climate Change.
“Given our extreme vulnerability, it is vital that our voices continue to be heard before, during, and after COP as we grapple with the reality of using scarce national resources to adapt to the effects of climate change or recover from its loss and damage,” the Bank’s President had been quoted as saying. In his presentation, the CDB President also pledged to “highlight matters of greatest concern such as the urgent need for increased climate finance under more favourable terms,” and the importance of “seeking to match financial allocations with countries’ resilience and vulnerability.” At the same time, Dr. Leon also appealed for a mindfulness of the level of support required to accelerate the Caribbean’s “transition to Sustainable Energy and Green Trade.”
In what would appear to be a carefully planned initiative to serve as a critical ‘bell crier’ for the Caribbean in Dubai, the CDB, reportedly, will be hosting
several platforms, comprising mostly public awareness sessions regarding critical climate-related issues. One such session was expected to embrace such critical climate-related issues as Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems for Climate Finance Tracking. In Dubai, the Bank was also expected to host various other advocacy-focused sessions aimed at increasing awareness of other climate-related issues that impact the region.
