Vulnerable Nations Still Waiting on Climate Justice  

For the past few days, Minister Orlando Habet and a Belizean delegation have been participating in the Small Island Developing States Conference in Antigua and Barbuda. This meeting is an opportunity for small island developing states, SIDS, to renew their commitment to sustainable development, focusing on climate change, debt and health crises, underscored by the theme, “charting the course towards resilient prosperity”. A major concern for several of the nations participating in this event is the climate justice funding that is owed to vulnerable nations in exchange for the reduction of carbon emissions. In 2022, the loss and damage funding agreement was established at COP27 which provides funding for vulnerable countries severely affected by climate change. However, several countries have faced difficulty in accessing the funding promised by large carbon emitters.

 

Orlando Habet, Minster of Climate Change

“We have been in several meetings over the years at COPS. And every five years, we are supposed to submit our N.D.C.s, which are basically our mitigation commitments for Belize, we are doing our part in trying to mitigate the little that we already emit, but as SIDS in general produce only about zero point zero one percent of total emissions. The G20 produce over eighty percent of total emissions. So certainly the arena is skewed as to who are the big emitters and so in regards to getting climate justice, that is one area that we want because we are the ones being affected, but also for us to be able to put down certain adaptation measures so that we can build resilience. Then it is imperative that we get the financing that we get the funding to do these adaptation projects that will build resilience for our small states and our communities. It has not been forthcoming. The promises are not being fulfilled and the little monies that are available are difficult to access. And many times, they come hinged with a lot of conditions and many times things that we can’t really afford or really want to do because they really don’t make sense. That is where we’re certainly seeking climate justice in terms of trying to get the funding to be able to do the implementation for N.D.C.s that we commit to. But without the funding, we can’t do it. We have, as our last N.D.C. shows a lot of ambition, but we have a gap of about one point seven billion for us to be able to implement our N.D.C.s from here to 2030.”