Earth Today | London climate protests a clarion call to Jamaica, Caribbean

IF NOTHING else, the ongoing climate change protests in London by the group Extinction Rebellion is a reminder to Jamaica and other small island developing states (SIDS) in the Caribbean of the clear and present danger of escalating greenhouse gas emissions.

This is according to local stakeholders, who have said that growing emissions – which fuel the warming of the planet while creating threats, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events and associated food, water and health insecurity – signal the need for urgent and scaled-up response actions.

“A lot of positive things are happening (in terms of the response to climate change), but the impact of climate change is racing ahead and outstripping our ability to even manage,” noted Eleanor Jones, head of the consultancy firm Environmental Solutions Limited.

While not necessarily in favour of all the tactics being used by Extinction Rebellion, which has demanded, among other things, that the UK Government declare a climate emergency and reduce emissions, Jones said that their efforts should certainly be lauded, given what is at stake.

“We have to really support what they are doing. It is enough to just write policy. Policy just sits there. Policy and legislation is important, yes; but that is not sufficient. God knows we have a lot of policies and legislation, but some of them remain in draft for years. We have a real implementation deficit and we need strategy and action plans that answer ‘what do we do and how do we do it’,” she said.

According to international news sources, with placards – some of which read ‘Rebel for Life’ – thousands of Extinction Rebellion protesters were, up to yesterday, using roadblocks to paralyse parts of London as they pressed their visibility advantage. One protester is quoted as saying, “Brexit, none of it is going to matter if there’s a climate apocalypse.”

Ayesha Constable, a long-time youth advocate in climate change circles, said the protests are indicative of youth in revolt over an issue that is especially real for them.

“What we are seeing in London is maybe derived from the agitation that is already ongoing around Brexit, with young people leading the opposition against that. Regardless of what people want to think or argue, the fact is that it (climate change) is happening and you don’t have to look far to see the impacts. Young people are very connected through the Internet and in other spaces,” she said.

“And so, even if in our own spaces we are not feeling the brunt of it, we are conscious of the harsher realities affecting others. In Mozambique, for example, a recent cyclone resulted in a mother having to deliver her baby in a tree,” she added.

Like Jones, she said the advocacy efforts of youth from the north must be applauded and supported as appropriate, given that they bring visibility to the plight of those from the south.

“Sometimes it would appear that the actions in the developed countries overshadow or take front seat to what is happening elsewhere in the world. But in those spaces, young people have access to more channels to get the word out. We have to applaud those young people. They are allowing the youth voice to be heard. Where we can support them, we have to do that, where we can duplicate them, we should do that,” Constable said.

Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, a development communications specialist and head of Change Communications, said “it is encouraging to see the increased passion and action that the young people in London are taking.

“They are demonstrating in the streets and blocking traffic, among other things, in their demand for climate action. I would love to see Jamaicans demonstrating for climate action. After all, small islands like us are the ones feeling the climate impacts the most. We are the ones being battered by stronger hurricanes, flash floods, longer droughts, and so on. So we need to ‘step up the thing’ as Jamaicans love to say,” said Lafayette, who has participated in advocacy actions for SIDs at the level of the United Nations negotiations on climate change.

“I am not saying that Jamaica is not doing anything; we are strong in the climate negotiations and we have been getting in a fair amount of climate funding. Our youth are also leading climate-awareness programmes and so on, but bearing in mind the life-threatening nature of climate change, we need to do more,” she added.

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