JOHANNESBURG--Perhaps
the most vulnerable, as well as the most helpless,
countries in the world to climate change and global
warming are what are known as the Small Island
States. The tragedy for them is all the greater
because they are least responsible for burning
of fossil fuels, like coal, oil and gas and the
subsequent emission of greenhouse gases. Most of
them have very environmentally friendly policies
and depend mainly on tourism for their revenues.
Two of these tiny nations, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines in the Caribbean, and the Republic of
Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, got a chance on
the last day of the plenaries at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, to articulate their
concerns.
"Our
continued existence has been placed at risk, even though
we contribute little to environmental degradation or
global warming," lamented Dr Douglas Slater, Minister
for Health and the Environment of Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, referring to the gradual rise in the
level of oceans threatening to inundate low-lying areas
of the world, including many islands.
He
also mentioned "the more frequent
hurricanes and storms" that occur
as a result of climate change. "The
international community has done very
little for us, with international assistance
having actually fallen in the past decade."
The
Caribbean has been losing its "professional
resources" at an alarming rate,
added Dr Slater. "Thousands of teachers
have been migrating every year from our
region to the more advanced countries." He
regretted that delegates were emerging
from the WSSD without targets on the
emission of greenhouse gases. "How
can we look our children in the eye?" he
asked.
Continuing
in the same vein, Ronnie Jumeau, Minister
for Environment of the
Republic of Seychelles, stated that "In
all honesty, even after ten days of negotiations,
the world is far from attaining the goals
we set at Rio in 1992." Lately,
he added, the focus had been on globalization
and terrorism, with environmental concerns
unfortunately taking a back seat.
"The big breakthrough has been
the Kyoto Protocol, with only the USA
and Australia opposed to it. Please ratify
it," he pleaded to considerable
applause. "We must not compromise
the future of the next generation."
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