Jamaica’s struggle to recover from Category 5 Hurricane Melissa has intensified calls from Barbados for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to gain formal recognition as a vulnerable category within international climate frameworks, with Environment Minister Adrian Forde warning that current financial systems leave Caribbean nations as “political contortionists” when disasters strike.
Forde made the appeal during the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) meeting on Thursday at the Courtyard by Marriott.
He cited the devastation in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas in the hurricane’s wake as clear evidence of the increasing impacts of climate change on the Caribbean, despite the region contributing minimally to the crisis.
Forde said: “The answer lies before our eyes because of the acute devastation…due to what I would call a bipolar climate crisis in Jamaica….that has not only caused the loss of infrastructure, the loss of communities, but sadly, the loss of life.”
Calling for international recognition, he said: “This is a stark reminder that leaders and policymakers must move unequivocally to ensure that we are not only recognised but that our special circumstances require the international community to respond.”
He recalled the impact of Hurricane Beryl last July, which damaged 200 fishing vessels and cost over $40 million in recovery efforts as it passed just south of Barbados. “It will take Jamaica a long time to recover from the debris of a Category 5 hurricane.
“It is no longer a need for us; it is a right…that is why we are asking equally, not only to be recognised for our special circumstances but to be given the opportunity to have the financial wherewithal to build back,” he explained.
The minister underscored the importance of the Bridgetown Initiative, championed by Prime Minister Mia Mottley, as a framework to reform global financial systems to better serve vulnerable economies.
“We must have the architecture that says to the rest of the world: events happen where we are building our resilience, or adaptation and mitigation, that we need to be able to access financing that’s concessionary. Just like those big countries… Those big countries who I would very unapologetically say are the major contributors to global warming and the climate crisis that we face. It is us in the region who are devastated. Our families are devastated. Our infrastructures are devastated… The immediacy of a response is critical.”
Forde commended the Loss and Damage Fund for allocating 50 per cent of its resources to SIDS and least developed countries (LDCs), calling it a “breakthrough moment”.
“Right now in Jamaica, they need access to funds. They may need immediate responses. The prime minister in Jamaica now has to be a political contortionist when it comes to funds — that which would have been spent in the health sector, that which would have been given for social services must now be used to save lives and rebuild, unfortunately.”
Reaffirming Bridgetown’s commitment to regional solidarity, Forde said: “That is why Barbados has committed to doing that which you would consider right and just, lending assistance for our brothers and sisters in Jamaica. We are one family, and that’s how we operate.”
(LG)
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