Caribbean must determine best use of report

TAYLOR SAID it is now necessary for the Caribbean to amplify the achievement the report represents and to craft a strategy for its effective use as a tool in climate change negotiations.

“We need to see an initial acknowledgement of how significant this report is for the Caribbean and then I hope that what is going to be happening is that the region is going to unpack the full significance of the larger report and use it as the basis of its negotiations, the basis of the planning for our countries – for adaptation, for mitigation. I am hoping that is coming in the ensuing days,” he said.

“This is probably the most significant IPCC report in recent times for SIDS and their cause is well represented in this particular scientific assessment.

CONSEQUENCES

The report establishes that 1.5 has its own set of consequences; it is a risky state. But then it is half a degree difference from two. And though 1.5 is risky, it is less risky than two,” Taylor added.

Spence, like Taylor, is of the view that the report is significant for Jamaica and other SIDS in their bid to secure, among other things, climate financing to help their resilience to climate impacts.

“The report is a wake-up call for governments. It provides the road map for the future, sounds the alarm about complacency,” she said.

“We have no more time for complacency or delay. The time for action is now,” added Spence, who is also head of the Climate Branch of the Met Service.