The Tribune

BY FAY SIMMONS

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE PRIME Minister yesterday called for climate financing to become automatic and legally binding, warning that vulnerable nations such as The Bahamas can no longer depend on international pledges that are abandoned when governments change or budget priorities shift.

Addressing the global COP31 climate conference, Philip Davis KC said the global response to climate change has been built around the goodwill of individual political leaders, leaving small island developing states (SIDS) struggling to secure promised funding as they face rising seas, increasingly ferocious hurricanes and repeated cycles of destruction and rebuilding.

“No one is coming to save us. We must save ourselves,” he declared. “This is not a cry of despair, but a call to action.” Mr Davis argued that the international community had misdiagnosed the climate crisis as primarily a lack of political will, when the deeper problem was the absence of permanent mechanisms to ensure commitments were fulfilled.

“There has never been a shortage of willing leaders. Every COP produces them. They stand at the podium, they make the pledge, and they mean it,” he said. However, the Prime Minister added that elections, budget cuts, coalition collapses and changes in government frequently undermine those commitments.

“We have been building a global response to an existential crisis based on individuals’ goodwill,” said Mr Davis. “But individuals come and go. That is the flaw at the heart of everything we have done.”

He said implementation was being frustrated because countries were left trying to secure commitments made by individuals who no longer occupied positions of power.

Mr Davis called for a fundamental shift towards continuity and permanence in the global climate response, arguing that financing should be automatic rather than dependent on pledges, while commitments should be enshrined in treaties and law rather than declarations and communiqués.

He also called for the special circumstances of small island developing states to be embedded as a structural feature of the international framework, rather than treated as a category requiring renewed recognition every decade.

The Prime Minister's remarks come as The Bahamas continues to face the economic consequences of climate change, including the destruction caused by hurricanes and the significant costs associated with rebuilding and strengthening infrastructure.

Mr Davis said countries were still struggling to navigate cycles of destruction and reconstruction, with financing promised during one cycle frequently failing to materialise in time.

He argued that self-determination for vulnerable nations should not mean being left to manage the crisis alone, but rather taking proactive measures to strengthen their own resilience while contributing to global solutions.

In that regard, Mr Davis pointed to The Bahamas' Blue Carbon Programme, which seeks to protect the country's seagrass meadows that play a significant role in carbon storage and environmental protection.

“Beneath Bahamian waters lie the largest seagrass meadows on Earth,” he said. Mr Davis said the seagrasses draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the seabed, while also supporting fisheries, softening waves before they reach the coastline and maintaining the clear waters that attract visitors from around the world.

Their climate benefits, he added, extend beyond The Bahamas, as the carbon stored in the meadows remains out of the atmosphere and contributes to addressing the global climate crisis.

“Protecting these meadows serves every nation in this room,” said Mr Davis. He added that The Bahamas had drawn on lessons from previous generations in developing the programme, which seeks to connect the protection of its natural resources with climate financing.

“Our Blue Carbon Programme brings that wisdom into the age of climate finance,” he said. “Taking care of our seagrasses means that we can take care of us all.”

Mr Davis said The Bahamas has already made a significant investment in establishing the scientific, legal and fiscal frameworks necessary for the programme, but now requires international partners to support its full implementation.

He stressed that The Bahamas needs partners whose commitments would remain in place beyond donor cycles and changing ideological priorities.

“We now need international partners to fully implement the programme, who will stay the course, whose commitment is not dictated by donor cycles or ideological trends,” he said.

Mr Davis said small island developing states have traditionally been viewed as nations expected to follow the lead of larger countries, but The Bahamas intends to take a more prominent role through its blue carbon initiative.

“For a generation, the world has looked at small island states and regarded us as the first to follow. Look again,” he said. “With our Blue Carbon Programme, we will be the first to lead.”