(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)

I very much regret that I am unable to attend this important Conference to address the Region’s Climate Change agenda but this meeting coincides with a series of other pressing issues that demand my attention and that of the Assistant Secretary-General, Dr Edward Greene under whose portfolio the whole area of sustainable development falls. He joins me in wishing you all a very successful outcome at this Conference. The Secretariat is however well represented by the Director of Sustainable Development and the Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

I need not dwell on the fact that apart from the current economic crisis, Climate Change and its implications for the economic and social landscape are perhaps the most demanding challenges facing the World today. The constant rise in sea level, the dangerous impact on human lives from the emission of greenhouse gases, the erosion of natural beaches, and landslides due to deforestation all contribute to natural disasters compounded by the consequential negative effects on agriculture and food production, poverty and human suffering. The economic implications of non- attention to these elements of climate change, singularly and collectively, are enormous.

The Caribbean Community Secretariat based on the concerns of our Heads of Government has taken steps to foster collaboration with all stakeholders in its role as coordinating agency and provides the necessary support for the Hon Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, who holds the portfolio of Sustainable Development including Disaster Management and Water in the Quasi Cabinet of CARICOM Heads of Government. However it is the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, under the tireless efforts of Dr Ken Leslie and his staff that is responsible for implementation of programmes which will no doubt be the focus of your assessments and recommendations.

Our Community, conscious of the need for action now, has taken several steps to deal with the pressing issues of Climate Change in full recognition of the emphasis that must be placed on mitigation and adaptation strategies simultaneously. Hence the finalization of the Climate Change Strategic Plan by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and an Action Plan which would focus on the mainstreaming of the issues are the most important activities requiring your urgent attention, since it is on the basis of mutually agreed platforms that the Region’s stakeholders can move forward in unison to meet the challenges, negotiate effectively in the international arena and mobilize the required resources for the region’s climate change programme.

In this regard, I wish to commend the efforts of the Alliance of Small Island Development States (AOSIS), led by Grenada for their tireless efforts in representing and articulating the interests of the Region and to Antigua and Barbuda for its role in 2008 as chair of the G77 Group that so ably sustained our positions in the various negotiating theatres during 2008. In both instances the major stumbling blocks remain: What should be the global target for greenhouse emissions reductions post-2012; and, who should bear the burden for these reductions?

At the recently concluded meeting of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government in Belize, 12 -13 March, 2009, it was agreed that:

• regional policy makers at the highest possible level need to play a more active and visible role in the negotiations process which is mainly political in the build-up to and at COP-15 in Copenhagen, Denmark, December 2009;

• The CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development and the positions of AOSIS and the Caribbean interest within the Group of 77 be supported;

• Emphasis be placed on the links between Climate Change and renewable energy and on avoided deforestation and on water security;

• Greater attention be given to the need for a mechanism to support the development of a climate change adaptation mechanism and disaster risk reduction mechanism that could address the special circumstances of countries in the Caribbean, given that the region is identified as one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world.

I am sure we would not miss the significance of the CARICOM Heads agreeing on these core issues. They are in principle an indication of the Heads commitment to keep the development challenges associated with climate change firmly on the national and regional agendas. It is also an indication of their collective will in ensuring that the necessary policy making machinery at all times incorporate the issues on climate change.

Ladies and gentlemen this is a time when we must take bold steps by acting collectively as a region to deal with the complex and interrelated aspects of Climate Change: failing which, we would contribute toward the persistent poverty and further erosion of the quality of life and the economic viability of the Region and the World. We have much work to do as we prepare for Copenhagen in December 2009. Let’s demonstrate the true meaning of regional integration as we walk this road together and speak with one voice

I expect that this Conference will point the way to this objective and I wish you all success in your deliberations.

Thank you.

(Remarks were read by Mr Garfield Barnwell, Director, Sustainable Development, CARICOM Secretariat)

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org