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News + Updates

Attendees at the UN Climate Talks at an event in the Caribbean Pavilion

Pictured: attendees at CARICOM Pavilion event - COP27

PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR/FELLOWSHIP

While breathing a sigh of relief following the decision on financing for loss and damage coming out of the recent United Nations Climate Conference, Caribbean SIDS have reservations over the overall package of decisions from the international negotiations (COP27) that concluded in Egypt on November 18.

Not the least of these is the seemingly insignificant strides made to ramp up ambition to cut emissions that fuel the warming of the planet and the associated impacts – from extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, to threats to food and water security, as well as the risks to public health.

“While the establishment of the loss and damage fund is a big win for SIDS, representing 30 years of effort and struggle, there were many disappointments for SIDS in Egypt, particularly as it relates to keeping 1.5 alive,” noted Colin Young, Executive Director of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Climate Change Centre who was at the negotiations, which began on November 6 and ended on November 18.

Participants at the UN Climate talks mill around at the CARICOM Pavilion

Participants at the UN Climate talks mill around at the CARICOM Pavilion - COP27

PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR/FELLOWSHIP

Stakeholders from Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) have welcomed the decision to establish a loss and damage response fund from the recently concluded United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt.

“We have literally exhausted all of our efforts … to bring home the climate action commitments our vulnerable people desperately need,” said the Hon. Minister Molwyn Joseph of Antigua and Barbuda, chair of the Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS), in a statement issued Sunday (November 20).

“Our Ministers and negotiators have endured sleepless nights and endless days in an intense series of negotiations, determined to secure the establishment of a loss and damage response fund, keep 1.5 alive, and advance ambition on critical mitigation and adaptation plans,” he added.

SIDS negotiators want commitment to financing arrangements

PETRE WILLIAMS-RAYNOR/FELLOWSHIP

Caribbean and other small island developing states (SIDS) are intent on securing a decision for a financing facility for loss and damage associated with climate change, despite what has been a reportedly frustrating week and a half of negotiations at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) in Egypt.

In a statement shared earlier yesterday (November 16, 2022), the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), which represents the interest of 39 SIDS and low-lying developing countries, made clear their displeasure with the negotiations that have so far yielded “a lack of progress” on arrangements for loss and damage that result from extreme events, such as hurricanes, and so-called slow onset events, including, sea level rise and warmer global temperatures.

“We have come too far to fail on loss and damage finance. Three quarters of humanity is relying on a favourable outcome at COP27. AOSIS and our fellow developing countries have toiled for the past thirty years to be heard on this issue,” AOSIS Chair, the Hon. Minister Molwyn Joseph of Antigua and Barbuda, said in a statement shared with the public.