Campaign hailed a success by CARICOM
THE CAMPAIGN, credited in part for the inclusion of the 1.5 degrees Celcius temperature goal in the historic Paris Agreement, was subsequently hailed a success by CARICOM.
“CARICOM’s interests were strongly represented in a focused and coordinated manner by heads of government, ministers, the CARICOM secretary general (Irwin LaRocque) and his staff, and a team of experienced and skilled negotiators led by Dr the Honourable James Fletcher. We are satisfied that our strong advocacy helped to ensure that the [final] agreement reflected the region’s position on our major red-line issues,” then CARICOM Chairman Fraudel Stuart said in a release issued by the CARICOM Secretariat through Panos Caribbean in 2016, post the 2015 talks.
“The region’s successful campaign, built around the slogan ‘1.5 to Stay Alive’, received energetic support from several groups and organisations, including youth and cultural artistes, whose efforts must be applauded,” added Stewart, also the then prime minister of Barbados.
VULNERABILITY
Now, Fletcher, a consultant on sustainable development, climate change and renewable energy for smallisland developing states (SIDS), insists it was a tactical error to have allowed the loss of momentum from that campaign, given what is at stake.
“Our populations are more sensitive to climate change issues now than they were four years ago, and I see that very clearly in my home country of Saint Lucia, where so many people come up to me and express concern about some of the decisions being taken by the US administration, or just share their opinions about how climate change is already affecting us,” he noted.
“However, this is the result of the work done prior to December 2015 and not because of what we have done since Paris. This means that things like the Talanoa Dialogue, which was an opportunity for civil society to make its voice heard on climate change, and now this Special 1.5 Report, which presents ominous data on what global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius means for SIDS and other climatevulnerable countries, have not made the news headlines and have not registered or resonated with our Caribbean populations. This is very regrettable,” he added.
Development communications professional Indi Mclymont-Lafayette agreed.
“I think that since the Paris Accord was drafted in December 2015, SIDS took a moment to celebrate getting the emission of target of 1.5 into the agreement and that moment has gone on longer than anticipated,” she said.
“I am not seeing the same urgency that was there to get the target into the agreement now. I am not seeing as much push to operationalise and get the actions needed for 1.5 to become a reality. I think we need to reset and come with fresh steam. I know some of this negotiation and advocacy work is a process, but we have to ensure we are consistently pushing,” added Mclymont Lafayette, managing director for Change Communications.