Q&A: Caribbean losing momentum on climate change
By Alison Kentish
CASTRIES, March 18, 2019
(IPS) — In 2015, the Caribbean
was “the region that could”
on the climate change scene.
Countries rallied under the ‘1.5
to Stay Alive’ banner, in the
face of an existential threat.
The now former Sustainable
Development Minister of
Saint Lucia Dr. James Fletcher
emerged as a climate change
champion at the time. But now,
three years on, the scientist is
giving regional climate action
a C- in an assessment.
“We had tremendous
momentum going into Paris.
We had everyone engaged;
journalists, civil society, the
Caribbean Youth Environment
Network and artistes. Now, it’s
as if having achieved the Paris
agreement, we patted ourselves
on our shoulders, said job well
done and dropped some of the
enthusiasm,” he told IPS.
Excerpts of the interview follow:
Inter Press Service (IPS):
What are your thoughts on
developments since leading a
team of negotiators to the Paris
Talks?
Dr. James Fletcher (JF): We
have excellent Caribbean negotiators
and they continue to
ensure that we preserve the
things we fought so hard for,
such as loss and damage in the
agreement and the 1.5.
Last year, the tabling of
the special 1.5 report was an
important development but we
did not seem to have much success
in getting the COP to formally
recognise the report. The
language spoke about ‘noting’
rather than ‘embracing and
endorsing’ the recommendations.
That was disappointing.
The biggest disappointment,
however, is the disengagement
of the political apparatus.
Going into Paris, we had the
engagement of the Caribbean’s
political apparatus.
We had the CARICOM chairman,
who at the time was Prime
Minister of Barbados, Freundel
Stuart. CARICOM Secretary
General Irwin LaRocque
was present and so was the
former Prime Minister of Saint
Lucia, Dr. Kenny Anthony, who
had responsibility for climate
change. We had leaders who
were engaged, stayed with us,
helped to develop momentum
in talking to people like Ban Ki
Moon, the then Secretary General
of the United Nations and
former U.S. President Barack
Obama, to ensure that we had
political support.
That political engagement
has stopped, not just at the
Dr. James Fletcher (second from left), with Jamaican artistes and the Director General of the OECS Commission Dr. Didacus
Jules (far right) celebrate the success of the 1.5 to Stay Alive Campaign during the Paris Climate Talks. Dr. James Fletcher
level of heads of government,
but also at the ministerial level.
You don’t see that coalition of
Caribbean ministers speaking
strongly, with one voice, on
climate change anymore and
we’ve lost as a result.
IPS: At the highest levels,
how can we improve the climate
change discussion?
JF: Unfortunately, we’ve
changed the narrative to one
just on climate finance. When
our ministers, prime ministers
and Saint Lucia’s prime
minister, who has responsibility
for climate change, speak,
they speak almost exclusively
about mobilising climate
finance. Finance is extremely
important, but not the only
thing that we should be agitating
Caribbean Life, M 26 arch 29–April 4, 2019
for. If we cannot get
industrialised countries to
reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions to get us closer to
1.5 degrees Celsius, it doesn’t
matter what level of climate
financing we mobilise, we will
not be able to stay ahead. We’ll
have catastrophic impacts that
no amount of money will help
mitigate.
IPS: Do you think the realities
of the last few hurricane
seasons have made people more
aware of the realities of climate
change?
JF: Absolutely. Caribbean
civil society is clued in to climate
change. It’s heartening
when I walk around and people
tell me, ‘Every time we hear
about climate change we think
of the work that you guys did,’
and ‘This is serious, what are
we going to do?’
Hurricanes Maria and Irma
brought home climate change in
a very real way to Dominica, the
British Virgin Islands and other
islands. People understand how
dramatic and catastrophic climate
change can be.
Fishers tell you that the fish
catch is not what it used to be.
They have to go much further
out now to catch the pelagic
fish that they were used to
catching and are not getting
the catches that they used to.
In many different ways and sectors,
people are experiencing
climate change.
IPS: You are assisting Dominica
to build climate resilience.
How important is a body like
the Climate Resilience Execution
Agency of Dominica
(CREAD)?
JF: The prime minister, in
the aftermath of Hurricane
Maria made a bold statement
that he would make Dominica
the first climate-resilient country
in the world. CREAD is the
vehicle to get that done.
I was asked to stay on to
develop the Dominica Climate
Resilience and Recovery Plan,
which is the overarching plan
out of which CREAD’s work plan
flows. It’s the blueprint for how
Dominica will become climate
resilient. It’s based on three
pillars; prudent disaster risk
management, building resilient
systems and effective disaster
response and recovery, understanding
that Dominica, like
other Caribbean islands, will be
impacted by hurricanes. With
climate change, warmer oceans,
warmer temperatures, you will
have more severe hurricanes.
At some point, every one of us
will be in a position where we
will have to recover from a hurricane
or major storm.
IPS: Caribbean countries
are pushing renewable energy
programmes. Are you happy
with what you are seeing?
JF: I think we could have
done more, particularly in Saint
Lucia. We should have had a 12
megawatt (MW) wind farm. We
dropped the ball and, unfortunately,
when the government
tried to pick up that ball, the
investor died in a tragic plane
accident. I’ve been informed
that the government, along
with the Saint Lucia Electricity
Services (LUCELEC), is trying
to reactivate those discussions
with another partner.
The commissioning of a 3.2
MW solar farm by LUCELEC
is a step in the right direction.
LUCELEC is hoping to build
more utility-scale solar photovoltaic
facilities with battery
storage. The price of solar is
going down and hopefully the
price of battery storage will
also go down.
The window for geothermal
is closing. The cheaper solar
and battery storage get, the
more unattractive geothermal
will become, because geothermal
is a risky proposition.
….Dominica has made some
serious inroads there, as has
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
We’re a bit behind the curve,
but hopefully Saint Lucia can
get some test wells drilled and
see what potential there is.
IPS: Is there any project that
you would like to see undertaken?
JF: We planned on replacing
21,000 high pressure sodium
street lights that cost the
government around 11 million
dollars annually, with
LED lights…..we had a project
with the Caribbean Development
bank through blended
financing…..we would be able
to reduce the spend on electricity
from streetlights to five
million dollars. That project,
for some reason, the government
decided not to pursue, to
the chagrin of the CDB because
they were going to use Saint
Lucia as a pilot.
The second one involves
energy legislation. We’ve done
quite a bit of work as we have
an Electricity Supply Act that
basically gives LUCELEC a
monopoly for the generation,
transmission and distribution
of electricity. That makes it
impossible for any independent
power producer to come in and
get involved in the generation
of electricity from renewable
sources…… for some reason
this has stalled. I really would
like to see that legislation come
into parliament this year.