BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A two-day conference, which will bring together a number of regional experts and government officials to share information on climate Change and Ethical Principles and how they are affection countries, will be held at the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel.
The conference will be held on March 8-9 under the theme ‘Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean: Science, Ethics and Policies’, and will see a number of scientists, 50-member delegation from the Federation as well as ministers from various governments including Haiti and Mexico.
At a press conference held at the Parliamentary Lounge on Wednesday (Mar. 2), Senior Environmental Officer June Hughes said climate change affects a number of factors, including agriculture, tourism and infrastructural development, noting that its impact has a negative effect.
“The tourists love the sun, sea and sand. With the warming climate the temperature would be much warmer, so they wouldn’t have any incentive to come here because it’s more expensive,” she said.
Hughes also said that rainfall would not be the same; it would be more sporadic and heavier when it falls.
“This will have an impact on soil erosion and have an impact on agriculture. The farmers will now have to adjust their planting season to keep up with how the rain is falling. There’ll be more mosquitoes, malaria, plants and animals will be affected and also our reefs that protect our beaches,” she said.
Next week’s conference is co-sponsored by the local government and UNESCO, and according to Antonio Maynard, General Secretary of the UNESCO National Commission, it is the first of its kind being held in the Caribbean.
“…That speaks to ethical principles of climate change, people are dying, people are being pushed into poverty, hence UNESCO’s involvement. Because UNESCO is the lead agency with responsibility to the United Nations with respect to social and human sciences, they have the responsibility to come up with a particular declaration as it reflects to ethical principles and climate change,” Maynard said.
Minister of Education Senator Nigel Carty said the government and the local UNESCO Secretariat are extremely delighted to be playing a lead role in the organisation and coordination of the Climate Change Conference.
“Ethical Principles is a relatively new feature of the climate change debate, but in the larger context of the environment, ethical issues have been extensively considered and, at least as far back as the mid-Eighteenth Century during the industrialisation of Europe, when the effluent from factories into water and air began to seriously affect the health and livelihood of human and non-human species.
“The question was – why should private interest disrupt the environment to make millions for themselves at the expense of the welfare of other human beings, and how were the issues of job creation and economic development to be balanced against the impact of industrialization?” he stated.
The Minister stated that the specific objectives for the Climate Change Conference are:
1. To enable UNESCO to better understand Caribbean Ethical Dimensions of CC, leading to a unified Caribbean Response;
2. To identify ethical challenges in areas of science and adaptation, and to develop appropriate national and local policies;
3. To support and enlarge existing Caribbean expert networks; and
4. To secure active input and support of governments in the Caribbean region.
“When we speak of ethical issues of climate change, we speak of the need for the human fraternity to have regard for the impact of climate change on human and non-human life, public health, livelihoods, food security, habitat destruction, species extinction including humans, biodiversity and ecosystem stability, economic and social stability, cultural erosion, safety and security, and world peace,” Carty said.
Also present at the press conference was Chairman of the Local Steering and Implementation Committee Dr. Leighton Naraine.
