Byron Blake | CARICOM: Battle for survival of small states

The 49th Regular Meeting of the Conference of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government begins today, July 6.

When I first heard those dates, I called Dr Carla Barnett, the secretary general of CARICOM, to inquire whether that information was correct.

The secretary general, the authority on administrative matters of CARICOM, confirmed the dates.

Why did I question the dates and seek an explanation for what would have been a decision of the Heads of Government?

Simple. The conference has been held every year since 1983 on dates that included July 4, except in 1990 and 2020. In 1990, the shift was agreed due to the sudden illness of the Chairman, Prime Minister Michael Manley, and in 2020, the sudden onset of the deadly COVID-19. In each case, a firm September date was set. So, why July 6-8?

The Secretary General explained that the Heads of Government agreed to a change because they wanted to participate in the Fourth UN Financing for Development Conference in Seville, Spain, from June 30 to July 3. As the CARICOM Secretariat Representative to the Monterrey Conference in 2002, and a Member of the Jamaican team, which, as Chair of the Group of 77 and China (G77), led the fight in 2005 in the United Nations for the Second Conference, not the usual 10 years later but 13, I appreciate the significance of the fourth conference 20 years after the second held in Doha, Qatar in 2005 where Jamaica led the G77. I also appreciate the importance of CARICOM States participating at the highest level, given the continued and increasing bias of the international financial system against developing nations such as the small CARICOM States.

July 4 was the date of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas? Yes, but that could not be the full explanation. The Second Regular Meeting of the Conference was held in St. Kitts/Nevis, December 8-10, 1975. The third meeting was held in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on 16-18 November 1982. For seven years, no proposed dates were convenient for Dr. Eric Williams, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. At the end of that third meeting in Ocho Rios, the date of the Next Meeting arose. Forbes Burnham, president of Guyana, proposed that the Fourth Conference be held at Chaguaramas in July 1983 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty. That proposal having been accepted, Burnham proposed that for the future, regular meetings be programmed to include July 4, even it falls on a Sunday. That was also accepted as a decision of the conference.

That decision held for 41 years, except for two occasions.

Having satisfied ourselves, as citizens of the Region, about the dates, we address our minds to the substance of this 49th regular meeting. (Before I am assessed as being unable to subtract seven from 52, let me say that I have been advised that some time ago the conference decided that its two meetings would be considered as regular conferences.).

We are not aware of the matters on the agenda. We suggested earlier that the matter of the international financial system was sufficiently important as to warrant a change in the dates for the conference. But we now suggest that the transcendental issue for this 49th Meeting be climate change. This issue speaks to the continued existence of many of these small island and low-lying tropical states.

The international community accepted at the United Nations Conference in Rio, Brazil, in 1992 and again at the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Barbados in 1994 that climate change, arising from global warming, was the transcendental issue confronting humanity. The international community committed itself to the mitigation actions that would be taken, especially by the industrialised countries, to reduce carbon emissions in a manner that would keep increases in ambient global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels.

The 1.5 degrees Celsius was determined by the best international scientists as a level above which, inter alia, many small islands and low-lying coastal states could be permanently inundated by sea level rise; tropical countries could face stronger and more frequent hurricanes and tropical storms; and the Arctic areas could experience rapid melting of the icecaps.

The industrialised countries did nothing to reduce their carbon emissions and, instead, increased their combined emissions every year after 1992. The International Panel on Climate Change issued call for action in its Fourth Report in 2007. The global community met in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2007, and agreed on a two-year schedule of negotiations to determine the specific actions that the industrialised countries would take to achieve the required reductions. In the 2009 Copenhagen Conference, which culminated the two years, the industrialised countries proposed and secured a change in the criterion to “below two degrees Celsius”, with a promise to provide “$100 billion per year”, presumably to facilitate adaptation by developing countries, including the SIDS.

Returning to sanity, the 2015 Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP), in Paris, reverted to the criterion of “below 1.5 degrees C”. But the emissions and the temperature continue to rise. Every year since 2018 has been the hottest on record.

CARICOM and other SIDS have gone to the last four meetings of COP in Glasgow, Scotland (2021); Egypt (2022); Dubai, UAE in 2023; and Baku, Azerbaijan in 2024, and pleaded for action by the major emitters to cut their emissions. In all cases, the Conference ended without any commitment. The net effect is that the 1.5° C was exceeded in 2024, and all projections are that the 2.0° C threshold will be exceeded by 2030.

That is existential for CARICOM states.

This 47th meeting of the Conference is the last meeting of CARICOM leaders before the Annual Meeting of the United Nations in New York in September, and COP30 in Brazil, in November. Those are the last opportunities for CARICOM and other SIDS to secure some positive decisions from the major polluters. The experience of the last four COPs suggests that this will not be easy.

CARICOM leaders must, therefore, devote time to determine their actions and strategies, individually and collectively, for their participation in those meetings. Nothing, absolutely nothing, should divert their focus.

 

Ambassador Byron Blake is former deputy permanent representative of Jamaica to the United Nations and former assistant secretary general of CARICOM. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com