Caribbean Community Begins Discussions on Climate Change

On Tuesday, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) met in Nassau (Bahamas) to discuss issues related to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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This is the first regional meeting to be held in preparation for the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), which will take place in November in Egypt.

During the opening speech, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis emphasized that Caribbean nations must ensure that developed countries contribute to the financing of environmental policies and actions.

"If we advance our interests merely as individual Small Island Developing States, our voices will be dispersed, unable to be heard above louder, wealthier, carbon-producing interests," he said, as reported by Reuters.

"It is time to go on the offensive against the painful blows that climate change has dealt to the region, but we must be united in the fight and convince the world that, for better or worse, we are in this together," Davis stressed.

In recent years, the Caribbean countries have been seriously affected by extreme weather events such as hurricanes and the accompanying floods. In the Bahamas, the consequences of natural disasters have increased sovereign debt by some US$5 billion.

The two-day gathering in Nassau is attended by 18 national delegations. Among them is the Cuban delegation, which is made up of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Anayansi Rodriguez, and Cuban Ambassador Julio Cesar Gonzalez.