By: Staff Writer
February 21, 2025
Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, said at the opening of the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community will be held in Barbados that the Caribbean will continue to fight for climate justice.
Mitchell, who is also the outgoing chairman of CARICOM, said: “No movie can replicate the kind of damage and destruction and emotional trauma and stress that our citizens and citizens elsewhere face when climate change and the negative consequences of it descends on them.
“But we are resilient. We will rise. We’ll continue to fight, we’ll continue to advocate, and we continue to offer a partnership and friendship on this issue, and I repeat on the issue of climate change, we are not asking for mercy. In fact, we are not asking for sympathy. We are asking for partnership and make no mistake about it, we have one planet.”
Hurricane Beryl, the earliest category 4 hurricane to hit the Caribbean, struck Grenada and its dependencies on July 1, 2024, along with St Vincent, and the Grenadine islands of Union Island, Mayreau and Canouan later on in July.
Hurricanes are estimated to cost the Caribbean billions yearly. According to available data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the estimated damage caused by hurricanes in the Caribbean over the past several decades is around $52 billion in constant 2010 US dollars, with nearly half of that amount attributed to the most severe hurricane on each island. Recent major hurricanes like Maria (2017) and Dorian (2019) have caused significant economic losses in the region, particularly impacting the Bahamas.
Mitchell also cautioned: “I don’t know about you, but I’m sure I’m not going to live on Mars.
And so it may be the Caribbean islands today, but islands in the Pacific tomorrow, or Spain or New Orleans or Australia, it is one planet, and we are simply asking for partnership in tackling the challenges of climate Change and in protecting and sustaining the lives, the livelihoods and the cultures of the people who are most prone to the devastating impacts of climate change.
“We are in Barbados. If you don’t think Barbados is worth fighting for, that the Bahamas is worth fighting for, a Dominica is worth fighting for, then I don’t know what is worth fighting for.”
Mitchell also noted his successes in continuing the international help geared towards Haiti and encouraged members to not fall into “Haiti fatigue,” and urged them to continue to assist the beleaguered country in any way they can.