By Daniel Whittle
Power energy outages, meals disruptions and climate-related disasters have develop into commonplace throughout the Caribbean. However amidst these challenges, there’s room for optimism. Elevated funding, rising consciousness, supportive insurance policies and neighborhood management provide a chance for rebuilding and strengthening resilience within the Caribbean and small island creating states, or SIDS, world wide.
EDF has a protracted historical past of partnering within the Caribbean and in creating nations across the globe to foster resilience and produce local weather options to scale. Now, to construct on this work, an EDF delegation shall be collaborating within the 4th Worldwide Convention on Small Island Creating States, organized by the United Nations on the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The convention, whose theme is ‘charting a course towards resilient prosperity,’ will produce a brand new plan of motion to deal with important challenges confronted by SIDS associated to local weather change, biodiversity loss, and rising debt.
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On the convention EDF will help adoption of the plan and a number of other pathways for implementing and funding the plan.
A profitable future for SIDS
The central consequence of SIDS4 shall be a brand new roadmap for motion for small island states on sustainable growth and local weather change, known as ‘The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS.’ The declaration will construct off the prior 10-year plan of motion, the Samoa Pathway, with an emphasis on bettering knowledge assortment, monitoring and analysis.
EDF is trying to see settlement on an bold roadmap that includes calls to motion and measurable targets in the direction of extra resilient and affluent communities, clear power transition, sustainable useful resource administration, biodiversity conservation and enhanced international cooperation.
A profitable consequence may even require progress on technique of implementation, to make sure that the roadmap’s targets could be realized. This contains higher entry to finance flows, as small island states typically lack assets to deal with compounding challenges. Caribbean states particularly face huge shortfalls of finance for local weather motion, particularly from the personal sector. At SIDS4, the UN Secretary Normal will convene a high-level assembly to debate find out how to higher mobilize assets to sort out the distinctive challenges that SIDS face, which has the potential to spur motion from key actors together with worldwide monetary establishments and the personal sector.
EDF’s work within the Caribbean
As a corporation that has been actively partnering throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, EDF focuses on crafting efficient, equitable and lasting options that handle each day challenges whereas fortifying long-term resilience to local weather change.
Our work in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Belize and The Bahamas blends grassroots, community-centered methods with coverage advocacy on the nationwide degree and, by mobilizing personal and public financing at a big scale, we’re driving science-based fisheries administration, sustainable ocean practices, biodiversity conservation and clear power venture growth. EDF can be a proud member of GLISPA — the International Island Partnership — an essential platform which catalyzes cooperation on these points.
Going ahead, EDF’s objective is obvious: Guided by a dedication to significant insurance policies, environmental justice and financial growth, we try to collaborate with island nations to create a brighter, extra affluent and safer future.
EDF’s work within the area has supported many significant steps ahead:
- In Cuba, EDF developed new partnerships to foster marine conservation, working to evaluate coral reef well being and strengthen biodiversity commitments, alongside creating studying networks for sustainable fisheries.
- In Puerto Rico, EDF supported the island’s power transition by serving to to craft insurance policies that mandate a 100% renewable future and thru creating mannequin community-based photo voltaic tasks that guarantee power entry and resilience to essentially the most weak households.
- In Mexico, EDF partnered with fishers from the Yucatan coast to rebuild and recuperate a serious grouper fishery, supporting 20,000 households.
- In Belize, EDF engaged with authorities authorities to strengthen resilience of fisheries and broaden marine ecosystem safety.
- In the Bahamas, EDF is amassing and sharing ocean knowledge to enhance hurricane prediction fashions. We’re working with coastal fishing communities to develop pathways to develop small scale fishing boats powered by renewable power. We’re additionally partnering with fishermen and neighborhood leaders to forestall giant scale developments that threaten world class ecosystems.
Milestones for the following decade
To benefit from this second, EDF’s delegation to SIDS4 shall be collaborating in interactive dialogues with different stakeholders and civil society organizations, constructing and strengthening partnerships and figuring out new alternatives to make an influence.
Not like many different UN conferences which meet yearly, small island states solely collect as soon as per decade to set an agenda for the following 10 years. Because of this SIDS4 is an particularly essential milestone.
We may even be monitoring discussions and occasions round a number of key points, together with:
- Financing the power transition in SIDS.
- Decarbonizing the transport sector to create extra resilient economies.
- Enhancing resilience of the Water-Meals-Power nexus.
- Addressing challenges of climate-disasters, sea degree rise and climate-driven human mobility.
- Conserving biodiversity by means of nations’ 30×30 commitments.
The outcomes of SIDS4 will assist construct momentum for worldwide motion on local weather change within the years to return. The 2026 UN Local weather Change Convention — COP31 — will seemingly be co-hosted by Australia and Pacific Island leaders, which means that SIDS will quickly be within the driver’s seat for the worldwide local weather agenda. A profitable consequence at SIDS4 can lay the groundwork for fulfillment at COP31, placing the worldwide neighborhood in a stronger place to fulfill its local weather targets.
