Barbados' Government Tells ICJ the Island Could Become “Uninhabitable” Due to Climate Change

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Barbados has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the island’s “serene” beauty stands to be obliterated, “if we do not cease forms of global conduct which will leave our island uninsurable, uninvestable and, ultimately, uninhabitable”.

Foreign Service Officer II, Davion Sealy; Barbados’ Ambassador to Brussels, Simone Rudder; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds; Barbados’ Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Francois Jackman and Shonae Jackson of the Solicitor General’s Office, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague, Netherlands. (GP)Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Kerrie Symmonds, also warned that the climate change crisis “is for us an imminent matter of life and death”.

Barbados is the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to make an appearance before the ICJ, which  is holding public hearings on the request for an advisory opinion on the Obligation of States in respect of climate change.

Earlier this week, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne appealed to the ICJ to use its voice to “inspire action” that has eluded the political arena as his country and other small island developing states (SIDS) seek advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change.

The ICJ is holding advisory proceedings on the “Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change Oral” proceedings until December 13.

Symmonds told the ICCJ that the climate change situation is not a statistical matter, nor is it  a theoretical or speculative matter, “but it is a matter of life and death, simply because of the fact that for the people of Small Island Developing States such as mine, there is nowhere to go when confronted with rising sea levels; there is no hinterland, there is no interior, there is no area of as yet unexplored territory.

“ll that we have is 166 square miles of land territory for our 300,000 residents,” Symmonds said, adding that Barbados like other SIDS are surrounded by coral reefs that play a key role in nurturing and protecting coastal communities and facilitating near shore economic activities such as fishing and leisure.

“The sea is therefore not only a home to our biodiversity but a source of our livelihood. Carbon emissions from human activity are causing ocean warming and acidification which in turn places our coral reef and its entire ecosystem at risk.”

He said as a consequence, “everything, everything that we have painstakingly constructed as a people is at risk because of the climate crisis:

“The tourism sector which has buoyed our economic fortunes for the better part of a century is at risk; The fishing sector which has been a sustainable source of protein for generations of Barbadians is at risk; The sugar cane we have grown for hundreds of years and from which we distil our world-famous rum is also at risk.”

The Barbados  Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister said that Hurricane Beryl, which swept through the Caribbean in July moved from being “a simple tropical storm to being a Category five hurricane in approximately 24 hours.

“Hurricane Beryl impacted Barbados and destroyed 90 per cent of Barbados’s fishing fleet. A fleet which had been hauled behind the protection of marinas and breakwaters which had existed for over 35 years.

“However, such was the unprecedented intensity of the waves Beryl sent our way, that those 35-year-old protections proved insufficient and marinas that had hitherto provided sanctuary became scenes of destruction.

“What you might not have heard of is another startling example of the effects of the climate crisis in the Caribbean: prolonged drought. The first five months of 2023, saw levels of rainfall which were 53 per cent below the preceding 30-year average for Barbados during the first five months of those years.”

Symmonds said storms like Beryl, prolonged periods of droughts, slow-onset phenomena such as sealevel rise and rising temperatures are the catastrophic “new normal” which has become our lived reality.

He  said the economic consequences are no less palpable and that even as productive sectors are affected, the ability of the State to provide support is undermined by rising costs of finance and, increasingly, the challenge of securing sustainable insurance.

“My country, like some regions in larger countries, is in grave danger of becoming uninsurable. It follows logically, Mr President that, without the ability to access or sustain insurance premia, a country’s economy will also become uninvestable.

“Barbados contends, and science clearly demonstrates, that these are the consequences of this man-made climate crisis. A crisis towards which Barbados and Small Island Developing States have contributed almost nothing, but which may take everything we have.”

Symmonds said Barbados is a firm believer in the international legal order and that is why 44 years ago, it accepted the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction.

“Today, we appear, for the first time, before this Court respectfully to request clear answers to the clear questions posed, unanimously, by the UN General Assembly,”  he said, quoting a poem from one of Barbados’ most celebrated poets, Kamau Brathwaite, in which he paints “a vivid picture of what my country represents today:

“That serene picture stands to be obliterated, if we do not cease forms of global conduct which will leave our island uninsurable, uninvestable and, ultimately, uninhabitable,” Symmonds said.