Prime Minister of The Bahamas Says His Country Requires Urgent Action on Climate Change
UNITED NATIONS – The Prime Minister the Bahamas, Philip Davis says that of all the risks his country faces, none requires more urgent action than the climate crisis.
In his address to the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly Debate on Saturday, Davis said that, in 2019, Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that nearly destroyed two of the Bahamas’ main islands, wiped out 30 percent of the Bahamas national economic activity.
“The impact on our economy, on our infrastructure, and on our people is still very much present,” he said. “The scientific consensus is, that as ocean temperatures rise, we can expect hurricanes of greater intensity to arrive with increased frequency.
“Small island nations like mine did not create the emissions that are warming the earth, but, nonetheless, we are on the frontline of climate catastrophe,” Davis added. “But no one country – large or small – acting alone, can stop climate change. The first UN climate conference took place in 1992. Yet, despite decades of conferences and meetings featuring warnings from scientists and experts, one-sixth of all the carbon emissions ever – some 407 billion tons — occurred between 2010 and 2020.
“I have frequently spoken, as have so many others, about the need for action in terms of climate justice, and fairness,” the Bahamian prime minister continued. “Why should small island nations like mine – we who have contributed so little to the climate crisis – experience the biggest burdens and risks of a changing climate? The argument might be straightforward – but it has not been effective.
“For a long time, decision-makers in both the public and private sectors believed that climate action must come at the expense of economic growth. But now, many are beginning to understand that climate inaction is the most expensive option of all,” Davis said. “Taking action is not just in the interests of those of us who are particularly vulnerable. It is in the interest of every country. And it is this ‘enlightened self-interest’ that should motivate action.”
The prime minister said the good news is that there are also positive incentives, stating that transitioning to clean energy is going to create jobs, increase efficiencies and improve living standards.
“Again, don’t do it for us, do it for yourselves,” he said. “I do not believe in despair; I believe in determination – and human ingenuity. We can do this. Countries that disagree on many other issues, including important ones, must co-operate on this issue, in their own self-interest.”
Noting that there are roughly 39 days before a major United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), in Egypt, Prime Minister Davis said: “Let this be the year that we turn talk into action. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work. Let those who pledge, write the cheque.”
He said countries like the Bahamas that are already trapped by billions in climate debt, need funding to transition to renewable energy infrastructures.
Davis said his administration has already begun to install solar microgrids across the islands, but added that scaling-up will require a lot of additional funding.
“We are actively defining ways to protect and safeguard our shallow seas, mangroves and seagrasses, all of which act as a major carbon sink for the world,” he said. “We urgently need to build capacity. Now, we are inviting those with potential technological solutions to bring their innovations to the Bahamas.”
The Bahamian leader lamented that “little to nothing has changed” since he brought to the attention of the General Assembly last year the threat to the financial services industry in the Bahamas and in the region.
“We continue to struggle to recover from the economic shocks of hurricanes and the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have the additional battle with inflationary pressures, created not by us, but by the war in Europe.
And now, to top it off, we are yet again the victims of inequitable and unjust measures on the part of major economic actors,” he said. “All these factors place a stranglehold on our national development, and that of other Small Island Developing States.”
Davis noted that, just on Friday, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) placed the Bahamas on its blacklist.
“This action is profoundly unfair,” he declared. “When we look at the countries that are flagged as high risk and blacklisted, several startling commonalities emerge. Why is it that European states that operate frameworks akin to that of high-risk or blacklisted countries are not even eligible for inclusion on these lists? Why are all the countries targeted – all of them – small and vulnerable, and former colonies of European states?
“We find it astounding that the US$2-$3 trillion dollars, which is estimated to be laundered each year through the developed countries, are never flagged as causes for concern,” the prime minister said. “And yet, my country, which is widely recognized as one of the best-regulated countries in the world, and other countries like the Bahamas, are singled-out for such reputational attacks.”
He said the “robust” regulatory regimes of the Bahamas’ Central Bank, Securities Commission, and Insurance Commission are “chastised on minor details of technical process, while much bigger transgressions in the developed world are ignored.”
Davis said the evidence is mounting that the considerations behind these decisions have less to do with compliance and more to do with “darker issues of pre-judged, discriminatory perceptions. Black-governed countries also matter.”
He said the Bahamas supports the call for reforms in the global financial system to make it more relevant to the needs of today.
But, he said, those reforms need ambition, stating that they need to go beyond the incremental and applied to all.
The Bahamian leader reiterated his country’s opposition to the decades-long embargo and sanctions on Cuba, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation for the people of Cuba and “made existing hardship and deprivation much worse.”
In addition, he said the people of Haiti continue to suffer, stating that the political vacuum left after the assassination of the Haitian President, just over a year ago, has led to more violence – “with the instability fueling more tragedy and threatening the entire region.”
Besides migration, Davis said the Bahamas is also struggling from the proliferation of guns.
“We do not manufacture guns in our country; and yet, they illegally find their way to the Bahamas, and, within days, can be connected to some criminal activity,” he said. “In an archipelagic nation, made up of some 700 islands and cays, and ranged across 100,000 square miles of water, defending our borders is an expensive challenge.
“We believe more manageable and effective efforts can be made at the source, to ensure that a right to bear arms does not so quickly and easily translate into a right to traffic arms,” he added.
Prime Minister Davis congratulated UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his leadership in achieving agreement with Ukraine, Russia and Turkey to get the flow of trade in the Black Sea moving once again.
He said the stabilization in world food markets has helped millions of people in the developing world.
In meeting the existential challenge posed by the climate crisis, Davis said “it should be an increasingly self-evident truth that none of us can be safe until we are all safe.”
