November 1, 2022
As we look to the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Egypt in November, the Caribbean Climate Justice Alliance is calling for urgent and accelerated implementation to tackle the climate crisis and address the needs of Caribbean small islands developing states (SIDS) and other vulnerable countries.
With 70% of the Caribbean population living and working in coastal areas, where most of the infrastructure is located, climate change poses an existential threat to our communities, economic sectors and natural ecosystems. Impacts are already being felt through coastal erosion due to sea level rise, coral bleaching and marine ecosystem damage with higher sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, water shortages due to rainfall variability and saltwater intrusion, and more intense hurricanes and storms among others. If greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, and global temperature exceeds 1.5˚C, these impacts will worsen and threaten the very existence of our way of life in the Caribbean and other SIDS that have contributed the least to global emissions. The havoc wreaked by the Category 5 Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and most recently by the Category 4 Hurricane Ian in 2022 provide a glimpse into this stark future.
Bringing together civil society organisations, grassroots leaders and activists, academics, creatives and the media, the Caribbean Climate Justice Alliance seeks to amplify the voices of the most vulnerable communities and groups on the frontlines and catalyse actions for climate justice and local resilience in Caribbean SIDS. The impacts of climate change are often hardest on the most vulnerable and marginalised groups, including small-scale farmers and fisherfolk, rural women producers, elderly and disabled persons, the income poor, migrants, LGBTQIA+ persons and Indigenous Peoples. Based on a series of deliberative dialogues with these vulnerable groups and wider Caribbean civil society, the Alliance is calling for five priority areas for action at COP27 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and the needs of our most vulnerable:
- Curbing emissions to limit global temperature increase to 1.5˚C
- Scaling up locally-led and ecosystem-based solutions for adaptation and resilience
- Improving access to and delivery of climate finance for frontline communities, small and micro-enterprises and civil society organisations as part of a ‘whole of society’ approach
- Ensuring additional and dedicated finance for loss and damage and fully operationalising the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage
- Supporting a just transition for pro-poor, inclusive, sustainable and resilient development