SVG advocates for Taiwan to be part of UNFCCC discussions

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is advocating for the formal engagement of the Republic of China on Taiwan (ROC) with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In a November 16 letter to Executive Secretary of UNFCCC Patricia Espinosa, Prime Minister of SVG Dr Ralph Gonsalves noted that by 2020, Mother Earth is expected to contain in excess of 10 billion people and stressed that it is “wholly unreasonable” for the ROC to be excluded from the UNFCCC.{{more}}

“We are each other’s neighbours in this globalised world. Thus all people’s and governments have an obligation to act responsibly to protect the global commons and our common humanity. There is really no other option for survival and sustainable development. This is a matter of existential consequence to humanity,” said Gonsalves, who added that the ROC and its 23 million people are our global neighbours.

“Taiwan has been making outstanding strides by itself and in conjunction with its allies around the world to arrest manmade climate change,” said the Prime Minister in his letter, adding that the same logic that prompted the ROC’s observer status at the World Health Assembly should dictate, at least, a similar status at the UNFCCC.

“As Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, a country that has ratified the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, I am formally requesting that this matter be given favourable consideration in our global organisation”, Gonsalves told Espinosa in the letter.

The UNFCCC is an intergovernmental treaty developed to address the problem of climate change.

Gonsalves’ letter was sent to Espinosa one day after Gonsalves addressed the plenary of the 22nd session of the Conference of Parties (COP 22) of the UNFCCC, in Marrekech, Morroco.(LC)