Cash for climate change please, Caribbean leaders plead

Funding to address the financial flows needed for adaptation and mitigation of climate change remains an issue of concern for the Caribbean.

The region’s leaders say developed countries should continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance from a wide variety of sources to prevent disaster to these vulnerable island states.

Additionally, the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community and Common Market, (CARICOM), Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, said there ought to be transparency in terms of the commitments countries make.

“And I would hope that the commitments that the developed countries have made to provide financing are commitments that they will honour,” LaRocque told IPS. “And I dare add that such commitments to provide financing should not be tied up in all the bureaucratic maneuverings to access these finances.”

“We also feel very, very strongly that the vulnerability that our countries exhibit should be a major criteria for accessing those resources and not per capita income,” LaRocque added.

The climate change agreement signed in Paris in December recognized the importance of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events.

Source: http://www.caribbean360.com/news/cash-for-climate-please-caribbean-leaders-lament