Dominica: Skerrit wants more global investment in climate change resilience

Last updated: 12 December 2017, 4:32 pm

The prime minister of Dominica has used his appearance at the One Planet Summit to call on the international community to invest in making small states more resilience to climate change.

Speaking as a panelist in Paris, Roosevelt Skerrit said that "significant" funding must be shared across physical infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, and utility services - water, electricity, telecommunications.

He highlighted the impact of hydro-meteorological events as well as slow onset events on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Dominica.

The impact is becoming more severe and even more frequent, he stressed.

Dominica was smashed by category five Hurricane Maria on 18 September, killing more than 30 and leaving millions of dollars of damage. Earlier that month Hurricane Irma struck the region, severely hurting Barbuda among others.

According to Skerrit, there is unprecedented political will to stem the emission of greenhouse gases, gradually decarbonise the electricity sector and reduce reliance on carbon-based fuels for transportation.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Roosevelt Skerrit speaking in Paris,[/caption]

Two years ago, the international community demonstrated these commitments with the Paris Climate Agreement and the creation of the Green Climate Fund.

And although since then President Trump has pulled the USA out of the accord, there appears to be a consensus that work must be done.

“The challenge, however, is the in ability of countries, especially small states which are most adversely affected, to access the resources that have been committed to combating climate change," Dominica's prime minister said.

"The complexities involved in procuring those funds compounded by the slow pace of disbursement, threaten to eliminate the gains made in Paris two years ago."

Skerrit wants processes to be streamlined at-risk countries can access funds designed to assist SIDS.

He believes the creation of the Climate Resilience Executing Agency of Dominica is one solution to address these challenges.

The prime minister thanked the international community for their support in responding to the impact of Hurricane Maria on Dominica.

He urged countries to continue to partner with the government and people of Dominica to create the first climate resilient nation.