Sun St. Kitts/Nevis supports PM Douglas’ statement on CHOGM climate change position
 |
|
St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas
|
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, NOVEMBER 29TH 2007 (CUOPM) – Sun St. Kitts/Nevis said Thursday it is in support of the statement by Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas following the just concluded Commonwealth Meeting in Kampala that rich countries should compensate the poor for the effects of negative climate change.
In its editorial of Thursday, St. Kitts/Nevis Prime Minister Douglas also said the Commonwealth, in recent proposals, did not go far enough in pushing those offending countries to seriously have them tackle the world-damaging problem.
It continued that the Commonwealth statement has suggested that developing countries should take the lead in cutting the emission of gases that cause global warming but gave no detail as to how they should go about this and further, there were no real targets set for major contributing countries.
“And this is what has offended Prime Minister Douglas as well as several other members of the Commonwealth and even many outside of the organisation.
Some of the small island states, especially those in the paths of hurricanes know that their effects are destined to be more catastrophic and this situation does not offer much hope to the poor people of some of these countries who are the ones to be typically pegged back for years following a destructive storm,” said Sun St. Kitts/Nevis.
“And it is some of these same developed countries that have closed doors on opportunities for some of these same affected people who are forever hampered in their efforts to lift themselves out of the dust and move to make something of already bad situations. It is also some of these same developed countries that continue to scrape away the top human resource of smaller countries to aid in their own development leaving the small island states to continue to struggle and look to them for assistance – they should be made to compensate for that too.
It is the same developed countries that will attack the progressive plans of the small island states as they seek to make what they have at their disposal work for them, even though it means success through services offered to citizens of those same developed countries. They have put stumbling blocks in the way of such things as off-shore banking, Internet gaming and others – they should be made to pay for losses here as well,” said the daily paper. ~~Adz:Right~~
It added however that it digress – the matter at hand has to do with emissions harmful to the earth’s atmosphere and its potentially destructive consequences on the smaller countries of the world, such as those of the Eastern Caribbean.
“Hurricanes Louis, Lenny, Georges and Ivan were all products of this new age of rising emission of gases harmful to the earth’s atmosphere. Year after year, we hear of more storms and their being of greater intensity. This is bad news indeed for smaller and poorer countries and in as much as these countries would love to see the assistance come before more damage is caused, there seems to be little hope of this in the immediate future – the price of progress is indeed high,” said the editorial, adding:
“If this cannot happen therefore, then somebody must be held responsible for the great damage caused through their folly.”
In concluding, Sun St. Kitts/Nevis stated: “Dr. Douglas is right, just like countries seek to have major companies pay for ecological damages they might have caused, those deemed responsible for the demise of poor countries should be made to pay and pay dearly too.”
