MANHATTAN, New York — Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew believes that the world has become morally insecure, impacting Small Island Developing States (SIDS), especially those within the Caribbean region, where climate change and the proliferation of guns are having a profound impact.
While presenting at the United Nations General Assembly, Dr. Drew highlighted the myriad of challenges facing the Caribbean, including droughts, flooding, rising sea levels, and gun violence.
“In the Caribbean, our lived reality is of rising tides washing away our hopes, of unforgiving heat setting ablaze our dreams. We pray for rain and receive the flood, dragging our homes and our future to the abyss. When the guns flood our communities, tearing children from their mothers’ arms, it is a collective cry for action,” PM Drew said.
The prime minister further elaborated: “When the Global South starves while food wastage continues unabated, we must be shaken from our complacency. The harsh truth is that the world is becoming mortally insecure. We stand on disappearing shores. We are besieged by storms, natural and man-made. Corporate greed, colonial arrogance, and unchecked consumerism have torn apart our social contract with each other. We are no longer at peace with nature.”
The Caribbean region has long been at the center of climate change discussions, as it remains one of the most vulnerable areas globally. Rising sea levels and more intense hurricanes pose existential threats to these territories. Dr. Drew shared a specific example earlier this year, noting that rising sea levels have already raised concerns for hotels in the country over beaches.
The prime minister emphasized that these climate impacts are not just theoretical but immediate and tangible:
“Today, the Caribbean braces for an intense hurricane season, facing the escalating fury fueled by warming oceans and unprecedented storms. Our brothers and sisters in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Beryl, which became the earliest-formed Category Five hurricane on record this past July,” reminded Drew.
He continued by expanding his scope to include the Pacific region, whose island nations face similar threats, and the southeastern United States, which is currently being battered by Hurricane Helene.
“Lives and livelihoods hang in the balance, as entire communities brace for the next assault. Hoteliers in my own country of Saint Kitts and Nevis have approached our government, stating with a sense of dread, that they may soon no longer be able to market themselves as beach resorts. Our famous beaches, once the lifeblood of our tourism-driven economy, are steadily disappearing under the relentless rise of the sea.”
In addition to climate-related issues, Dr. Drew addressed the rising gun violence plaguing the Caribbean. He argued that the interconnectedness of security and sustainability is often overlooked, but these issues are inextricably linked.
"The greatest delusion we feed ourselves is that security and sustainability are separate endeavours. They are, in fact, intertwined. We cannot build secure nations while allowing the climate crisis to rob future generations of their birthright. Security is more than an absence of conflict; it is the presence of dignity, of justice, and hope.”
