Caribbean countries already feeling the impact of climate change through rising sea levels, droughts and floods have called on world leaders to urgently deal with the task of limiting greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for a warmer climate. Speaking at the high level segment of the UN Climate Change Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, heads of government and environmental ministers from the Caribbean were common in their position that industrialised countries need to make commitments to reduce greenhouse gases which lead to atmospheric changes.
Grenada's Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, speaking on behalf of the 43-member Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, said the countdown to the 2015 deadline set by the IPCC for the peaking of greenhouse emissions has started.
"After that, it could become too late to reach the emissions reduction targets required to guarantee the survival of our economies and our peoples," he said.
A similar countdown has also started for the millions of people living in small island developing states, the least developed countries and the countries in Africa affected by flood, droughts and desertification.
"These countries are already experiencing damaging impacts of climate related events. We cannot ignore this deadline. We cannot ignore the science," said Thomas.
Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said while Cancun cannot secure a global, legally binding climate change agreement, it can make progress on a number of areas on deforestation and forest degradation, the mechanics of a green fund to invest in mitigation and adaption to help the most vulnerable countries and on technology transfer and financing.
He also told the more than 190 countries represented at the conference that through political resolve, they can turn climate change from being a catastrophic threat into the biggest opportunity for collective human advancement.
"The low carbon revolution that a fair, balanced global deal will create can be of benefit to all. It can lift billions in the developing world out of poverty by enabling them to participate in a new, global economy and it can create a better future for our children and future generations," the Guyanese President appealed to world leaders including UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
In his statement to the high-level segment, Jamaica's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kenneth Baugh said he came to the two-week conference in anticipation of a robust, balanced and decisive outcome to address the dangerous phenomenon of climate change. He said what is required is an ambitious post-2012 climate change framework that results in meaningful reductions in emissions in line with the well-established scientific reality.
