Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, will represent Barbados during a Ministerial High Level discussion on climate change sponsored by the European Commission, tomorrow, Saturday, September 20, in New York.
The meeting will bring together a small but representative group of Ministers from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe, especially those from Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States who are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of a changing climate.
Dr. Lowe noted that the discussion on climate change would follow on from those held in Apia, Samoa, on sustainable development, particularly in the context of global partnerships.??He explained that as the United Nations prepared to roll out the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, threats to sustainability such as climate change impacts needed to be addressed.
???Barbados as a small vulnerable state has to constantly respond to climate change events such as hurricanes, unseasonable weather, coastal erosion, drainage [concerns], sea level rise, coral bleaching and ocean acidification which has an impact on marine resources,??? the Minister pointed out.
Dr. Lowe also noted that Barbados needed to ask the question of whether or not it was fully prepared to respond to the variety of climate change-related impacts that could affect the social, economic and environmental stability of the island.
julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb