Large CO2-emitting countries must help small states with climate change
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said he along with other CARICOM Heads of Government believes countries emitting large quantity CO2 must deliver on their pledges of financial support promised to Small Island Developing States like the Virgin Islands.
He said CARICOM will take this argument to the COP27 meeting later this year.
The Premier said the decision was made during his visit to the Bahamas for the ‘Regional Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean’ to discuss climate change in the Caribbean. The meeting featured several other CARICOM Heads of Government, Environment Ministers and Foreign Affairs Ministers as well as officials from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“The purpose of the meeting was to discuss financing for Small Island Developing States for adaptation and mitigation measures in response to climate change. As we all know, the Caribbean in particular is vulnerable to stronger hurricanes, as well as sea-level rises and droughts. The meeting was also an opportunity to begin coordinating a regional position for the COP27 meeting in Egypt in November where nations from around the world will further consider how to arrest global warming,” Dr Wheatley said.
“We are aligned in our view that the countries who are releasing the large majority of CO2 gas emissions into the atmosphere should deliver on their pledges of financial support promised to Small Island Developing States and other groups of vulnerable countries. We are also of the view that we must hasten our transition to renewable energy to mitigate the economic and environmental risks associated with fossil fuels, such as the sharp spike in the price of oil and gas. This is the crux of the case that CARICOM will be taking to COP 27 in Egypt,” the Premier added.
He noted that in addition to the general CARICOM position, the Associate Members of CARICOM that attended the meeting in the Bahamas, held a Caribbean Overseas Territories Caucus in the margins to discuss their position.
“We agreed that greater engagement with the United Nations on alternative forms of climate finance for Overseas Territories was critical as well as further discussions with the United Kingdom Government on financial support and technical assistance to the Overseas Territories to adapt to climate change. The Associate Members present included Anguilla, Bermuda, BVI, Cayman and Turks & Caicos,” Dr Wheatley said.
The Premier noted that the BVI has been taking steps to prompt the territory’s response to climate change.
“I was very pleased that last week Honourable Turnbull announced the Government’s [plan] to reinstate the original Board Members of the Virgin Islands Climate Change Trust Fund. I join him in thanking the members for their willingness to resume their duties. They can be assured that Government of National Unity supports the critical and independent work that they will be doing in helping to mobilise and deploy resources to help build the climate resilience of this territory,” Dr Wheatley said.
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Stop burning trash at Pockwood Pond.
What about islands that still burn trash? Some always looking for a hand out.
Before you start asking anyone for help please update us on how the environmental levy is spent? What plans the government has for waste disposal?
Alot could be done at home before looking to someone for help?
Trying to plug the gap from no Narco money coming in?
What a disgrace you are. A total sellout. You know this is all to push the AGENDA 21.why are you not standing up.klaus Schwab new book is the great reset which also have climate change so are you trying to tell me he’s pyschic. People wake up. All governments sold all our souls to the devil. They plan to kill everyone. These puppets cares about money not being loyal to the people. This breaks my heart to see so many gullible people who just won’t open their eyes to see what’s really going on. The world is run by an evil entity and it’s leading billions to the path of destruction
Look at India and China as the largest emitters of co2
Lolol
Call the kettle black
This ID1*T doesn’t mention the burning of trash. We are emitting more carbon and other chemicals into the air than all of the other caricom nations. Combined
He should be ashamed of nature’s dirty little secret
Gonna be a lean year.
Stop fill the dark sea water and pond them every thing GOD made was very good GOD IS THE GREATEST ENGINEER
Such a sick mentality! Give us your money, but we want you having no say so on how we spend it. The world beginning to know how past politicians use funds for their own and how this place has given all the people’s money to a chosen few.
Bad infrastructure, bad social services, bad health, terrible law enforcement, inefficient and bloated Government, and cronyism that rivals the worst of countries!
Now a new generation that actually may have the BVI’s best interest in mind will have to fight the stigma of years of abuse by those that came before us that will take years to gain back respect and trust! Thanks for nothing!
Mr.illusionist go to VG and tell the people the truth about toad hall andys chateau the land adjacent stop shooting s**t in.the f**king air tired of all of U
Slow Wande needs to first deal with all the issues we have rather than standing there on some imaginary soap box fighting his imaginary battle, like Don Quixote. He doesn’t sound educated when you have Pockwood Pond emissions chocking ppl in West End St John etc
You need to come VG and see the first and last impression when flying into VG That f**king dump site is a disgrace it will soon reach the waters edge.s*****n butch sister island co.distrkct officer not a peep.Don’t worry time will tell
The ‘evil entity’ ruining the world is called capitalism.
It is a system designed to keep expanding even while it uses up and destroys the resources it relies on. It makes the world’s population dependent on it and sucks the wealth of their labour and unnecessary consumption to the top, so no one except the most wealthy have any power over government and rule-making. As we see now, they get richer and richer (thank you, BVI for helping them hide their money from the fellow citizens they should be sharing a portion of it with!) and the people of the world are more and more vulnerable.
By definition it cannot work and we see this now with storms like Irma, mass loss of the creatures and eco systems of the planet, heatwaves, fires, melting ice – you can pretend that it is all a lie but your evidence won’t stand up against the real facts on the ground observed by reliable and honest people, instruments that work and transparent science.( If you have proof they are all deceived, mistaken or lying, lay it out, please.)
Meanwhile, we’re drunk on junk information, bawling about how our country is better than another country, and our skin colour makes us better than those people, thinking material wealth will make our lives better even though satisfaction is always just out of reach, and as predicted the Earth’s systems are racing to the edge.
In the BVI we have chosen to ignore all the studies, science, data, warnings because we pretend we are ‘too small’ to be having an impact. In fact, we could have developed smart but we just want the material wealth, right now. Look how we have poison burning day and night at Pockwood Pond, whole bays and coastlines filled in so powerful local people can make money from what was once living reef and healthy shoreline _ aka the natural wealth of the Virgin Island people. We have chosen to trash it because ‘we need to develop’ when in fact we’re developing cancers while small groups of rich people cash in our inherited wealth and our childrens future.
Fact: what’s happening here is what’s happening to the world.
What a waste of Tax payers money for our politicians to be attending these conferrnces, ( except the alm expense paid benefits) when theres little, if anything we can do about Climate change, when we are depending on Cruise tourism, a major contributor to thebenvironnent, burning of fossil fuel for our electrical power, ((when we have an abindance of free sunlight and the ocean that can take advantage of Turboin production? We are burning garbage on Virgin Gorda and on Tirtola (24/7). One cruise ship in Road Harbour from morninh until departure at e eningvtime produces more Carbon emissions than all the vehicles in Bvi. This information i was privy to during 2007 -2001 by a certain business man on Tortola who enjoyed the privilige of boarding the ships and had contact with the onboard engineers and others.
While I believe in the concept of Climate change reduction, it is apparent that the countries most capable of making meaningful contributions to itd control arr the large industrial countries with Auto-manufacturing, Facturies in general, Oil production, Rocket launching etc. The little we the small Caribbean countries can contribue is hardly significant. Yes, find solutions to the garbage burning, (for our own health production) get rid of the direlect vehicles, concentrate more on meaningful hotel/villa accommodations etc
Not only that, but Caribbean countries are the biggest waste producers per capita than most of the big countries (Google it). That, plus the open burning, etc means all we know to do is beg for more money, not clean up our own mess. Stop jumping on bandwagons and start doing something about the issue in the territory.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daphneewingchow/2019/09/20/caribbean-islands-are-the-biggest-plastic-polluters-per-capita-in-the-world/?sh=52f3699e774b
Applause! You have laid it out magnificently. The only thing left out was the role of religion in confusing and blinding the people to the facts you’ve so eloquently stated so they are focused on a mythical after-life, rather than on the here-and-now and the future they are leaving to generations yet unborn.