Yesterday, November 30, marked the 57th anniversary of the independence of our neighbouring Caribbean state to the east, Barbados. My congratulations to our Barbadian brothers and sisters in a country, once considered the most conservative in the Caribbean but now, under the leadership of Prime Minister Mia Mottley, has been prominent in global and regional progressive causes, including the just claims for reparation. In so doing, she is proving a worthy inheritor of the mantle of the man who led Barbados to independence, the Right Honourable Errol Barrow.

November 30 is also special this year globally for it marks the start of what is called COP 28, the 28th global Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This Conference, being held in Dubai will run until December 12 and will focus on finding and agreeing to solutions to address the most pressing issue which faces humankind, that of climate change and the very future of Mother Earth itself.

As the “28” indicates, there have been 27 predecessors to COP 28, each of which results in partial or universal agreements. Sadly, in spite of all the lovely words and agreements, these have at best been only partially implemented and the world continues along its reckless path to global destruction, fuelled by greed and the insistence of a minority at continued world domination both of the resources of the world and of the vast majority of the world’s peoples. Each COP has taken place in the context of a world plunging headlong into destruction.

It is instructive that with the world facing such an imminent threat to its existence, the leaders of two of the most powerful countries on earth, which happen to also be the biggest polluters of the environment, the USA and China, will be absent from the opening of the Conference and maybe, the entire Conference itself. What can be more important than the task of saving humanity? Propping up the genocide of the Palestinian people, as in the case of the US government?

From one COP to the next, year after year, the most distinguished and honest scientists issue warnings about the future of Planet Earth. Ordinary citizens like us all around the world daily experience the reality that distinguished citizens have long predicted, climate havoc worsening by the minute. International agreements on which countless hours have been spent hammering out, being ignored in practice.

Today some of the world’s biggest and most rapacious capitalists in the world are now spearheading space travel, seeking alternative venues for their safety while they pollute and ultimately destroy planet earth itself. Clearly these people and their backers have no real interest in the future of billions of people like us, their immoral gains take precedence. Year after year, exhaustive agreements are hammered out, yet those particularly relating to the responsibility of the world’s biggest polluters to finance measures to address climate change and save the planet are not met with compliance.

This has led to the COP meetings being an annual tussle between developing countries as victims and environmentalists on one hand, and the big polluters and exploiters of the earth’s resources on the other. With the clock ticking ominously, one can expect especially heightened tension and even last-minute concessions at the conference. But how optimistic can we be that these will be honoured? The reality is that in spite of all the pessimism, we have no alternative but to press on with the relentless pressure.

One concern among developing countries is the growing tendency to try to use the COP negotiations as a means of rightfully extracting financing for climate mitigation programmes without any real efforts in practice to carry out the measures necessary. There is still insufficient emphasis on environmental education in many of these countries and measures which can be implemented even without funding for major programmes.

At a local level not only must we institute education and actions from cradle to grave, but these must be accompanied by legislative and practical measures to clamp down on pollution and deliberate environmental degradation. We accept too much of this so that the ordinary citizen is not in tune on a day-to-day level and the claims for restitution for environmental destruction and reparations.

The connections must be made NOW!

• Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.