Climate change a small island threat

SMALL ISLAND Developing States (SIDS), like Trinidad and Tobago (TT) and the Caribbean islands, are especially vulnerable to climate change because it is leading to the gradual rise in global sea levels and to the end of island states.

This grim warning came from the world renowned Yale University Dean-School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Prof James Gustave Speth during his recent feature lecture at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port-of-Spain.

The well attended lecture was entitled “The Caribbean and Climate Change: The Risks Ahead and the Needed Responses,” and was organised by the Ministry of Public Utilities and the Environment (MPUE) and the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

Also attending the lecture was the Permanent Secretary in the MPUE Earl Nesbitt, EMA Chairman Dr John Agard and Independent Senator Dr Angela Cropper. Prof Speth said the 1990s was the hottest decade on the planet in the last 1,000 years and that such extreme temperature changes could lead to an increase in the number of natural disasters.

He described the peoples of SIDS as being the victims of climate change who were not responsible for the current crisis.

However, Speth urged his audience not to continue being victims, and start to fight back against the scourge of climate change.

He described the struggle as similar to the American civil rights movement and the battles against apartheid in South Africa and Communism in Poland and Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 20th century.

“The world needs you to assert yourself like never before to take the lead in this fight because you’re the victims,” he said, “ who didn’t start this mess.”

Speth claimed the USA was the greatest polluter in the world and that other countries, like China and India, were also contributing to the problem.

He praised Europe and Japan as being serious about dealing with climate change by their environmental policies.

Speth then suggested a course of action to the audience that must be taken to deal with the climate change issue — both regionally and internationally.

He urged SIDS to organise themselves into a well coordinated lobby and advocacy group so as to protest.

“You also need to develop a strategy for an initiative to move your message forward, especially in the USA to help awaken the American public on your cause in the American media” he said.

He also suggested that SIDS peoples organise a climate change victims march in Washington, DC, to further highlight their plight to Americans.

Speth told the audience that SIDS would have friends in their struggle to get justice in the climate change issue, notably Europe and Japan. “Also, look at your legal options by suing the polluters in the US and international court systems to get justice. This is a human rights issue, so you must fight for your rights because your future and, by extension, the world’s future, is at stake.”