PM Dickon Mitchell highlights 'Reality' of small island states at COP29

Grenada: Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell recently attended the COP29 conference in Azerbaijan and highlighted the reality that small island states are facing. He highlighted the climatic challenges faced by them and the urgency to address it. 

The current occupant of the CARICOM chair, Mitchell shed light on Grenada’s experience from the recent Hurricane Beryl and described the teachings they learned during the hard time. PM’s address also focused on the extensive natural misfortunes it has been experiencing recently in the form of heavy rains. 

“For the second half of the year, we experienced the earliest category-5 hurricane that devastated our islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and I now stand here yet again my island is being devastated by flash flooding, landslides, and excessive rainfall, all in a couple of hours,” Prime Minister Mitchell said. 

As he addressed these issues, he stated "This is the reality lived by the small island states." He noted Grenada’s vulnerability describing it on the frontline of climate crisis. He stated that Beryl has caused widespread devastation to agriculture, housing, and land fishing communities. 

Further in his address, the CARICOM Chair emphasized on the role of global cooperation in the fight against climate crisis and called for unity. 

“We are not here to beg we not here to ask for sympathy, we are here to say that it’s one planet it may be small island developing states today it will be Spain tomorrow it will be Florida, the day after it’s a planet,” he emphasized. 

He emphasized that the island nations' extreme weather events are existing threats and not just natural occurrences. PM Mitchell further called that securing a sustainable future for everyone needs stronger international partnerships, where his emphasis was to provide funding to those in need. 

"Whether it's Innovative financing tools like our catastrophic parametric risk insurance or whether it's operationalizing the damage fund, but actually put the money in the fund and make it available for those of us who suffer the loss," he noted in his address.

He ended his address by describing that the lessons small island states learn about resilience and adaptability should be shared with the world ultimately leading to a stronger partnership.