Prime Minister Philip J Pierre provided an update on his recent attendance at the COP 28 conference, stating that the regional states put in a determined bid for greater attention to the issue of climate change that threatens to hamper the livelihoods of the ‘islanders’.
While noting that the general public must be made more aware of the inherent dangers associated with climate change, he said, it is now a matter of urgency and concrete steps have to be taken to tackle the situation.
On a brighter note, PM Pierre disclosed that the United Arab Emirates and Germany have contributed to the Loss and Damage Fund, which the regional leaders have been incessantly clamouring for.
Nonetheless, he said, the injection of those funds “is far from enough and far from what we need” in the fight to battle the hazards of global warming and other precarious climatic conditions. He said, however, the regional leaders acknowledged the efforts, at this time.
“There was a pledge for $100 billion a few years ago that has not been done … but regarding this latest contribution that’s a specific Loss and Damage Fund,” PM Pierre told reporters, aside from a cabinet briefing, Monday.
He noted that citizens from Saint Lucia and the wider region must be aware of the perils that lay ahead in the face of climate change and need to pay more attention to the urgency of this matter.
“In the region and in Saint Lucia, in particular, I don’t think that our discussions are focused enough on climate change,” declared the prime minister. “We do a lot of things and we say a lot of things, but on climate change …our discussions on climate adaptation and especially mitigation against climate change.”
Pierre said the public must be better informed and educated, since “we do not speak enough about what are the effects.”
Stressing on the enormity of the hazards that climate change poses, the prime minister said: “Our entire country can be wiped out. And while right now, we appear to be fighting for political power – that whole thing can come to zero with a hurricane.”
He added, “And it’s a real situation. I don’t think that we, as a region and as a country, are taking this (issue) seriously enough.”
He informed that on the issue of conversion, last week, cabinet agreed to provide concessions to hybrid vehicles as part of the efforts to get people to convert to utilizing renewable energy mechanisms.
The prime minster noted that the issue of climate change poses “a threat” to the country and people must take this matter more seriously.
He said cabinet would be discussing the Electricity Supply Act, which “is an outstanding matter that we have to deal with to see if we can amend it to ensure that renewable energy can become easier to get in the country”.
PM Pierre said the Climate Change Bill is also part of the workload – in preparing to hold dialogue with the International Advisory institutions.
“We are working on alternative means of financing, and we (have) launched a ‘Blue Bond’ at COP 28. Saint Lucia launched has now placed itself in the Blue Bond market and that’s a significant achievement,” he noted.
According to official sources, Blue bonds have emerged as a thematic bond that can facilitate capital towards Sustainable Development Goal 14 (life below water) not just through the use of proceeds, but also by making sustainable oceans-related investments more accessible to private and institutional investors.
“And I think we have to pay a little more attention to these things as a country,” PM Pierre asserted.