Earth Today | No ‘recession’ for climate change
Published:Thursday | April 16, 2020 | 12:12 AM
CARIBBEAN AND other developing countries are likely to face an uphill battle to attract climate financing in the wake of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is, even now, rapidly eating through the financial reserves of many countries in the race to save lives.
This is despite the call from United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres for the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis – which up to yesterday (April 15) had infected close to two million (1,914,916) people and killed 123,010 globally – to “lead to a different economy”.
“Everything we do during and after this crisis must be with a strong focus on building more equal, inclusive and sustainable economies and societies that are more resilient in the face of pandemics, climate change, and the many other global challenges we face,” he urged.
“What the world needs now is solidarity. With solidarity we can defeat the virus and build a better world,” Guterres added in a statement published on the UN website on March 31, with the launch of the ‘Report on Socio-economic Impacts of COVID-19’.
Among local stakeholders, there exists a high level of scepticism over the climate financing prospects for Caribbean small islands to attract climate financing after COVID-19 and the hit to the global economy.
“I definitely do think that there will be a tremendous change for vulnerable countries in accessing climate financing, but also the availability of funds for climate adaptation and climate mitigation,” noted Indi Mclymont-Lafayette, head of the development communications firm, Change Communications.
“With all that’s happening with COVID-19, it will have significant economic fallout, as many experts are predicting. Even if you are not an expert, the signs are already there that with the job losses, the business downturn and so on, there will be significant economic fallout and the road to recovery will possibly be a couple of years,” added the long-time civil-society advocate who has worked in environment and climate change.
“I think the really concerning thing right now – and it is a lot for us to process in these times – but we are seeing the escalation in heat and so climate impacts are not staying and waiting for us to recover from COVID-19. I think we will have to seriously look at how prepared we are,” Mclymont-Lafayette said further.
Renowned physicist Professor Anthony Chen agreed.
More ‘fuel’ for global warming
“Climate change is not going into recession because of COVID-19. Things are really accelerating right now, like in the Arctic and Greenland where the ice sheets are melting at a much faster rate than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,” Renowned physicist Professor Anthony Chen told The Gleaner.
The result, Chen said, is “sea level rise and a positive feedback for climate change as there is accelerated warming”.
Increased global temperatures, in turn, are associated with other impacts, such as extreme weather events, including hurricanes and droughts to which the Caribbean has proven highly vulnerable over the years. There are also associated risks to food and water security, as well as to public health.
“My own feeling is that things are accelerating, so that by the time the COVID crisis is over, there will be an increased threat from climate, and then maybe we will start taking notice,” Chen said.
“We are not going to see any goodwill on the part of these countries that have promised so much money. It is only the threat of climate change and one similar to the global pandemic that will trigger help – unfortunately,” the professor said.
What is necessary, Chen said, is for developing countries to stay the course with their own plans.
“There are different ministries and different agencies looking at climate change. We need the authorities to be anticipating what will happen and to be planning for what will happen. We need to think and plan,” he emphasised.
Eleanor Jones, head of the consultancy firm Environmental Solutions Limited, is of a similar view.
“We have to take charge of our own vulnerability. We know we are vulnerable and need to ensure that our own path takes that into account. Nobody is going to come in and do it for you,” she said.
Though large-scale and/or sustained climate financing has remained outside the grasp of developing countries, facilities including the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund, together with individual donor partners, have enabled some resilience building for islands such as Jamaica and others across the region, as elsewhere in the developing world.