St. Lucia PM hails importance of CCRIF
By CMC From WiredJa
Chastanet told the launch of the CCRIF’s 10th anniversary celebrations here that the facility is critical, given that Caribbean countries now have to deal with the increasing occurrence of natural disasters in addition to grappling with tight budgets.
“If we take (Hurricane) Tomas which is probably to date one of the greatest physical disasters that we’ve had in our country, it took months if not over a year to get funds flowing from CDB (Caribbean Development Bank) and the World Bank.
“The fact is that money was made available to us at that moment when people are already distraught about what is happening, the ability of a government to know that it has some cash coming in, and that it can now implement programmes,” he added.
Chastanet said that the impact of climate change is yet another economic burden on the vulnerable economies of the Caribbean.
“We are currently unviable. We cannot afford to deal with what we have to deal with now, as regards to climate change… The things that we’re being asked to borrow money for. How do we afford it?
“I’m not here to beg. I’m saying I think we all have a responsibility. If we accept that climate change is real, how is it that these countries that did not create the problem in the first place, and yet are being impacted so severely, are being asked to do so by themselves. CCRIF is a great example where we’re prepared to meet and do our part, but there’s so much more that we’re going to need to be able to do,” Chastanet said.
The St Lucia prime minister hailed the outcome of the 2015 Climate Change conference in Paris (COP21), where consensus was reached among nations for a two degree limit above pre-industrial levels, while working towards the limit of 1.5 which was requested by SIDS.
“I think it’s remarkable what we achieved as a world, but recognition by itself is not the solution. We’re being promised US$100 billion, we all know how that game is going to play. In 2020 that number will become a number, and then we’re going to have discussions on how we’re gonna draw down on it … and meanwhile for the SIDS the reality is now,” Chastanet said.
He added that the even as many Caribbean countries have been elevated to the status of middle income countries, they are still struggling with high debt levels. According to him this, coupled with the challenges of addressing the impact of climate change, have put the region at a further disadvantage.
“How come we can’t say that in the case of climate change infrastructural changes that we can be reclassified as developing countries? What’s the difficulty with that? Why is it taking so long to understand that basic principle?” Chastanet said.
For more on this story go to: http://www.wiredja.com/news/caribbean/caribbean-st-lucia-pm-hails-importance-of-ccrif
