The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie has again denounced the use of gross domestic product or gross national income per capita as the main component in “determining the access that The Bahamas and other small island developing states have to financial resources” to counter climate change.

Speaking at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations (UN) Convention on Climate Change in Paris, France, Mr Christie urged world leaders to adopt an “internationally legally binding agreement” that would “acknowledge and make provisions for the special circumstances” of small island development states (SIDS) and allow “for the flexibility needed to overcome limited human, financial and technical capacities.”

Mr Christie told world leaders that while The Bahamas is facing “growing public and international pressure to adapt to the impacts of climate change,” the country is also expected to simultaneously “pursue a low carbon pathway and increase energy security,” both of which he said are “expensive and resource-intensive” pursuits.

As such, Mr Christie urged for the world’s nations to achieve the legally binding and universal agreement on climate change to “send a clear message to the world that we will fight for countries like The Bahamas to stay on the map into the next century.”

“This existential threat to the survival of a number of (SIDS) must be explicitly recognised in the Paris agreement,” Mr Christie said.

“It should, at its core, acknowledge and make provisions for the special circumstances of SIDS, allowing for the flexibility needed to overcome limited, human, financial and technical capacities.”

Mr Christie also said that loss and damage should be “anchored” in the Paris agreement, and also called on diplomats to recognise the $100 billion per year pledge by developed countries, which he said needs to be “honoured and built upon in the post-2020 period.”

“The Bahamas should be able to access these funds,” he said. “We deplore the continued use of GDP/GNI per capita as the main component in determining the access that the Bahamas and other SIDS have to financial resources for our adaptation needs. Storms like (Hurricane) Joaquin and others have shown that it only takes one event to decimate entire island economies and communities.”

Mr Christie added: “I know the next two weeks will not be easy. Our negotiators must find the compromises we need to move forward. Because this is what we must leave as our legacy – the ability to rise above greater difficulty to become something greater.”

The summit, which runs from November 30 to December 11, seeks to achieve a universal agreement on climate from all the world’s nations.

The ultimate goal of the summit is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius, or 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit.