AHEAD OF ITS participation in the UN Climate Change Conference of the People COP26, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) issued a pre-Conference Declaration giving notice that the Region faces a climate emergency and demanding action.

The CARICOM Declaration on Climate Change, approved at a meeting of CARICOM Ministers with responsibility for Climate Change, made an urgent call for unswerving global solidarity to deliver ambition, timely action, and support for a just transition during this decade, with the aim of limiting global warming to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The Declaration demanded climate justice and the assurance that the Region’s survival will not be compromised. It called on leaders at COP26 to close the emissions gap, scale up finance particularly for the most vulnerable, and agree to rules to guide parties to progressively increase and demonstrate highest ambition.

The conference which opened Sunday and runs up to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland, is seeking to speed up action on Climate Change and commit to countries slashing their carbon emissions by half to limit temperature rises.

This country’s Minister of Tourism, Carlos James, is heading the St Vincent and the Grenadines delegation to the Conference.

Speaking at Monday’s opening session, US president Joe Biden, is quoted by CNBC as saying that: “In an age where this pandemic has made so painfully clear that no nation can wall itself off from borderless threats we know that none of us can escape the worst that’s yet to come if we fail to seize this moment.”

Among the world leaders not attending the Conference are President Putin of Russia and President Xi of China.