BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – A senior European Union official Monday mentioned Latin America and the Caribbean Local weather Week (LACCW 2023) presents a useful platform for worldwide collaboration on local weather options, barrier-breaking improvements, and the pursuit of alternatives throughout various areas.
LACCW2023, scheduled for October 23-27, runs concurrently with the XXIII Assembly of the Discussion board of Ministers of Setting of Latin America and the Caribbean in Panama.
“We are able to all agree on the utility of those conferences as platforms for centered dialogue, negotiation, and joint positions on key points amongst decision-makers,” mentioned the EU ambassador to Barbados, the Jap Caribbean States, the OECS, and CARICOM/CARIFORUM, Malgorzata Wasilewska.
“Nevertheless, there’s a rising sentiment amongst Latin America and Caribbean leaders, who’re aware of the dangers of inaction, on the urgency to translate this speak into significant, transformative motion on the bottom. For the Caribbean, the place the impacts and prices of local weather adjustments are already seen and felt, the time for rhetoric has lengthy handed,” she added.
She recalled that in July this yr, the Caribbean noticed a defining second within the worldwide endeavor to deal with local weather change and different urgent international points as leaders of the European Union (EU) and the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met in Brussels for the primary EU-CELAC Summit in eight years.
That assembly was co-chaired by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who at the moment holds the presidency of CELAC.
Wasilewska mentioned the summit marked the re-invigoration of “a longstandinglongstanding partnership and reaffirmed the elemental want for unity within the face of the multifaceted challenges we face as we speak.
“The summit was convened because the world continues to confront the impacts of the interrelated planetary crises of local weather change, biodiversity loss, and air pollution, which transcend borders and prolong past the capability of any nation to unravel.”
The EU diplomat mentioned that within the face of this monumental problem, the partnership between the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean, grounded in shared values and mutual pursuits, emerges as “a ray of hope and a power for change of our collective future. “Certainly, leaders of the EU and CELAC collectively acknowledge that collaboration as sovereign companions will not be merely advantageous, it’s crucial for addressing the quick and existential threats we face.”
She mentioned, looking forward to the United Nations Local weather Change Convention (COP28) to be held in Dubai from November 30 to December 12, the area finds itself on the cusp of a essential juncture.
“Certainly, eight years after the signing of the Paris Settlement, record-breaking summer season temperatures problem us to repeatedly replicate on our ever more and more bold commitments to vary.”
She mentioned that LACCW 2023 would assist to set the stage for this newest COP local weather convention, recalling {that a} solitary tweet from St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves earlier than COP27 in Egypt in 2022 summed up the area’s frustration:
“If Caribbean leaders wish to go to COP27 to inform tales of woe from Hurricanes Ian and Lisa, we would as nicely keep residence. Been there, achieved that,” he mentioned.
The EU diplomat mentioned Caribbean leaders went to Egypt final yr hoping to see progress on loss, injury, and adaptation finance.
“Ultimately, COP27 noticed the institution of a Loss and Injury Fund, which goals to offer monetary help to nations most susceptible and impacted by local weather change.
“The EU’s position within the negotiations was instrumental to attaining this outcome lengthy awaited by Small Islands Creating States (SIDS) worldwide. Nevertheless, many know that success relies on how rapidly this Fund will get off the bottom.
“We acknowledge that within the face of those international local weather realities, it’s tempting to despair and to overlook the alternatives which will emerge from the collective discussions and renewed dedication to constructive actions. We’re subsequently acutely conscious that the urgency of this problem necessitates a concerted response to staying inside a 1.5-degree rise in temperatures, advancing the shift to renewable power use, and supporting local weather motion.”
Wasilewska mentioned that the EU equally acknowledges the essential want for elevated local weather financing and enhanced entry to non-public investments has been a driving power behind the EU’s engagement.
“LACCW 2023 offers an unparalleled alternative for policymakers, business professionals, companies, and civil society to interact in information alternate, thereby strengthening synergies and aligning stakeholders towards shared targets.”
She mentioned that the EU’s International Gateway Funding Agenda (GGIA) for the Caribbean is a concrete and bold contribution designed to confront these international challenges head-on. “The GGIA highlights our dedication to extend inexperienced funding that addresses regional infrastructure wants whereas concurrently producing localized worth and fostering development, employment, and social cohesion.
“As well as, by Euroclima, our flagship regional program, we’re deeply dedicated to fostering more and more bold, transformative, and equitable motion on local weather and environmental points, notably within the LAC area. “
She mentioned that in 2023 the EU launched Euroclima to the Caribbean, successfully increasing this system’s assist to 33 governments within the LAC area.
“This partnership helps to foster the situations essential for a inexperienced and simply transition. By catalyzing key initiatives in precedence sectors and facilitating inexperienced financing and investments, we’re setting the stage for profound change.
“Our longstanding and regular relationship within the area has been solid by this work, our continued introspection on how one can meet the ever-increasing ambitions, and our shared expertise amid the local weather disaster.
“We’re subsequently excited to deliver these and different instruments to the desk so as to add that means to the discussions and switch the speak into tangible motion on the bottom with constructive impacts on folks in methods they will see and really feel. “
Wasilewska recalled the phrases of Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley that if it issues sufficient, “we will select to finish local weather change. Our solely limits are the bounds to our creativeness. We obtain what we put our assets behind.”
She mentioned because the area and the EU look ahead to the upcoming discussions in the course of the Latin America and Caribbean Local weather Week, “we renew our dedication to an equitable transition to a sustainable and inexperienced future.
“We stay optimistic as we speak and work with you to make sure that our mixed actions hold tempo with our shared ambitions and guarantees to the area,” Wasilewska added.
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