Barbados has high expectations for results emerging from the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP 21) meeting slated for December in Paris.
Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, said that the Government of Barbados continued to have faith in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and with the necessary political will, the COP 21 will deliver a comprehensive and ambitious legally-binding agreement.
He made these comments as he addressed a high-level meeting on climate change on the topic Mobilizing Political Momentum for Ambitious Actions on Mitigation, Adaptation and Means of Implementation in New York, earlier this week.
The agreement, suggested Dr. Lowe, should respond to the demands of science, achieve high levels of ambition and participation by all parties, and achieve sustainable greenhouse gas emission reductions by all major emitters in the shortest timeframe possible.
In addition, the Minister proposed that the agreement should also significantly increase the level of resources available to developing countries, particularly small island developing states and least developed countries, to assist them in adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change.??
Dr. Lowe warned that ???the window of opportunity to act before it is too late is narrowing at an exponential rate???.??As a result, he said small island developing states continued to ???bear the brunt??? of climate change impacts that were steadily eroding their capacity to maintain established standards of living, and aspirations for sustained growth and development.
He stated that the Barbados Government remained concerned about calls from some parties for a negotiated outcome that fell short in form and substance, relative to what was required to safeguard and protect vulnerable countries.
In addition, there are also concerns over the significant gap between the ???aggregate mitigation pledges made by parties to date???, along with the greenhouse gas emissions reduction pathway.
???Leaders must demonstrate the political will necessary to support this aspiration and ensure that their negotiators collectively realise the high ambition that is required at this stage to achieve the ultimate objective of the Convention,??? the Minister stated.
julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb