By: Dr Carla Barnett
August 16, 2024
I am pleased to address you all for the convening of this Annual General Assembly and related activities. As a proud Belizean, I welcome you to my beautiful country, where our diverse landscape of mountains, beaches, mangroves, rainforests and our Belize Barrier Reef designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, all together present a fitting backdrop for your focus on Media and the Environment.
I begin by extending heartfelt congratulations to your President, Dr. Grant, who has just been awarded the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica for services to Journalism, Media and Communications. Congratulations too, to the family of the late Honourable Oliver Clarke, who will be inducted this evening into the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s (CBU’s) Hall of Fame, in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the media.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As we gather this evening, the memory of the record-breaking early season weather system, named Beryl, and its devastating and extensive impact on several Member States of the Caribbean Community, forcing the postponement of the Forty-Seventh Regular Meeting of the Conference, is fresh in our minds and will no doubt feature in discussions throughout the week. Deliberations on the aftermath of the hurricane were also high on the Agenda during the rescheduled Forty-Seventh Meeting of the Conference which was held at the end of July in St. George’s, Grenada. While there, I visited the island of Carriacou, where along with President Ali of Guyana and Prime Minister [Hon. Dickon Mitchell] of Grenada, we were able to view first-hand the devastation caused by the hurricane. It was a sobering visit and a painful reminder of the urgency of the climate crisis facing the Caribbean region and other Small Island and Low-lying Coastal Developing States (SIDS) which do not cause climate change, but which continue to bear the disproportionate and increasingly onerous burden of its consequences.
Data from UNESCO shows that 30.7 million people were displaced globally by natural disasters in 2020. In the Caribbean, the extensive destruction of our nations caused by the passage of hurricanes is a familiar refrain. In the last ten years only, hurricanes such as Irma, Maria, Dorian, Ivan, and now Beryl, have severely impacted the Region. Coupled with this increase in adverse weather events are the other effects of climate change – warmer oceans, droughts, floods, salination of our aquifers from sea level rise – all of which undermine the sustainability of sectors such as agriculture and fisheries.
The increasing cost of repeated replacement of critical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, and restoration of essential economic services such as electricity, water and telecommunications, and social services such as health and education, erodes the socio-economic gains which we have been making.
Given rising global emissions, Scientists expect the effects of natural disasters and sea-level rise to worsen by 2050, putting the lives and livelihoods of Caribbean people even more at risk.
CARICOM Heads of Government have been deliberate and unrelenting in their advocacy for urgent action by the large emitters to do what is necessary to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees [Celsius] and for timely activation of the Loss and Damage Fund. This unified advocacy will continue, including at the 29th Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29), in Azerbaijan in November, where we will present a coordinated position on the climate crisis.
I commend CBU for adding its voice to our advocacy by selecting this relevant and timely theme around which to center discussions at this Assembly. Commendations are also due to the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) for its partnership with CBU over the past two years, which has resulted in a notable increase in the volume and the depth of content on climate change. This is important work which deserves recognition and commendation, and I congratulate all who will receive awards in this regard at tomorrow’s ceremony.
The regional media have traditionally played a very active role in disseminating information on disaster preparedness and around major weather events. As we seek to amplify our call for climate justice, the CARICOM Secretariat is seeking to broaden its partnership with the regional media. You are ideally placed to present a platform for Scientists, Activists and Policymakers to speak directly to the public; to package the impacts of climate change for public consumption; and to counter misinformation.
We especially have to engage with our young people who stand to lose the most if the global community cannot find a way to do what is right to reduce carbon emissions.
Critically, in the context of our vulnerable Caribbean Region, our media must scrutinise international efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and demand accountability for the negative effects of climate change on our small countries. What is true, is that even if we in SIDS do everything we can do to eliminate our already almost negligible carbon emissions, even as we continue to build our social and economic resilience, the inevitable warming of the oceans and sea level rise will continue to place our continued existence at risk unless the major carbon emitters do what is necessary to reduce their emissions and do so in time. There is, indeed, very little time left. Scientists are telling us that we are at risk of losing the ability to keep global warming within the 1.5 degrees centigrade which is essential to our survival as a civilisation.
Earlier today, I participated in a constructive exchange of views with regional media practitioners on how we can more effectively collaborate on information-sharing. Despite the proliferation of media channels and more cost-effective means of disseminating information, access to news of the services and programmes being implemented as part of the regional integration process remains a challenge. In many cases, this is especially true for the most vulnerable among us. Our hope is that, going forward, we will balance the scales, so that even as we are probed on matters on which we can do better, achievements, opportunities and benefits are also publicised and shared.
In this information age, access to digital technologies is a key driver of information dissemination, and digital media are a crucial tool for driving change and development within societies. While the Caribbean has adopted transformative digital technologies in recent years, significant digital divides remain within and across the Region.
At the recent Meeting of our Heads of Government in Grenada, the Prime Minister of Grenada who is at this time the CARICOM Chair, the Honourable Dickon Mitchell, who leads on Science and Technology (including Information and Communications) in the CARICOM Quasi-Cabinet, launched the development of a Strategy for Regional Digital Resilience. This Strategy will focus on digital integration; infrastructure and connectivity; workforce skills development; and the necessary policy and regulatory framework.
Our expectation is that this strategic focus will help to equip the people of the Region to participate robustly in initiatives to improve competitiveness, boost innovation and growth, and build our resilience to cyber-attacks, and other risks. This is especially critical for our young people as they prepare to lead the Region. Importantly, today, August 12, is the international observance of Youth Day under the theme, “From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development”, drawing attention to the pivotal role of young people in harnessing technology to advance sustainable development.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
This year the CBU is marking its 54th Anniversary. Its longevity and impact are due, in large measure, to the organisation’s responsiveness to the dynamics of the sphere within which it operates, exemplified, for example, by its development of a Social Media Policy Framework for the Caribbean. The CBU actively engages on the work of the Secretariat, including on the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), and as a member of CARICOM’s ICT Cluster of Institutions which are advancing the CARICOM Single ICT Space.
We look forward to the continued robust participation of the organisation, and its membership, in the important conversations about the digital future of the Region. This includes raising awareness of the need for our countries to make the leap to cutting edge technologies. This is necessary to:
support distance education;
provide access to specialised medical diagnostics, emergency messaging and security;
improve digital literacy skills at all levels;
Utilise the great potential of artificial intelligence paying due regard to the need for ethical content, creation and usage;
more effectively integrate the use of digital capabilities in the delivery of public services across the Region; and
support the Region’s drive for the necessary rollout of 5G and its continued evolution to improve and modernise operations in both the public sector and the private businesses.
I wish you a very productive 55th Annual General Assembly, and look forward to increased collaboration with the CBU, and the regional media, to advance the interests of the men, women and young people of the Caribbean Community.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
(The author is the Secretary General of the CARICOM)
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