June 22, 2021
Last week, leaders from seven of the world’s wealthiest countries gathered in Cornwall, UK, for the 2021 G7 Summit. The heads of state from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and representatives of the EU met to discuss global challenges – including a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. The leaders reaffirmed their goal to limit global heating to 1.5C and to protect and restore 30 percent of the natural world by the end of this decade. However, experts say that the summit failed to provide developing nations with the funds needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of global warming.
The Caribbean is one of many regions globally that has seen the devastating impact of climate change. When category 5 Hurricane Maria struck Dominica, an island of only 72,000, in September 2017, more than 90 percent of the island’s structures were destroyed. However, in the face of catastrophe, the country’s Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, declared that the small country would commit to becoming the world’s first climate-resilient nation by building back better and stronger.
Honourable Cozier Frederick, Dominica’s Minister of Environment, Rural Modernisation and Kalinago Upliftment, told CS Global Partners that “Small countries like Dominica have done little to hyperbolise the climate crisis. Instead, we in Dominica are on our way to climate resilience because we have no other choice, we are left fending for ourselves. Global leaders need to live up to their climate commitments, otherwise, climate catastrophe will worsen for us all.”
Today, with the help of the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme, Dominica is constructing over 5,000 weather-proof homes for its citizens and investing in rehabilitating its agriculture and fishing industries. It is also working towards building a geothermal plant which will reduce the cost of electricity for consumers and provide electricity to the French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which in turn will encourage foreign exchange.
CBI programmes legally grant citizenship status to applicants who invest in a host country’s economy and do so much faster than traditional immigration processes. Dominica’s CBI programme provides applicants with a swift processing time, thorough due diligence and affordable investment options channelled into health, education and employment initiatives on the island. With second citizenship from Dominica, individuals and their families can quickly formulate a Plan B and obtain global mobility without physically relocating, going through extensive interviews or waiting years as commonly associated with the traditional immigration process.