For the Caribbean, the climate crisis has become an economic crisis that calls into question the fairness, equality, and justice of socio-political processes on a global scale. Asking Caribbean SIDS and other vulnerable nations to assume liability for destruction that they did not cause is like asking someone to pay for damages incurred at a party that they were not invited. Forbes discusses.  

Grenada’s Simon Stiell, Executive Secretary on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, discussed ahead of COP27 in November, discussed what countries must deliver to keep the 1.5°C goal alive on United Nations news.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Michai Robertson, lead negotiator on Climate Finance to the Alliance of Small Island States, highlights the key concerns of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have, going into COP27. Dr Donovan Campbell, lead author of the ‘Small Islands’ chapter in the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Working Group II report on Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability to Climate Change,” addresses the needs of SIDS in the Caribbean to adapt to climate change. Climate Ambition Support Alliance discusses.

The International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) will be hosting a pre Cop27 webinar on on Thursday 20th October, 2022 about the Engagement of Indigenous Peoples at COP27. It will provide a curated space for funders and Indigenous partners to explore and co-create the next action steps, especially while preparing for the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference to be held in November 2022. Register here.

There will be a Caribbean Pre-COP Youth Conversation on Tuesday 25th October 2022 at 6 pm (Port of Spain time) | 5 pm (Kingston time) | 4 pm (Belmopan time). This will be a knowledge-sharing and community-building event for Caribbean youth and climate activists, with remarks from St. Kitts and Nevis’ Senator Dr Joyelle Clarke, Minister of Sustainable Development and Climate Action. Here’s the registration form. Thia is the Zoom link to join. Meeting ID: 867 5135 9839, passcode: 824395.

Climate Justice

• In his first report, the new United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change highlighted loss and damage, a critical issue for the Caribbean.

• Small Island Developing States are heavily exposed to the effects of climate change which lands them in critical debt situations. The European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)’s new report now shows that 37 island and coastal countries that are home to some 65 million people, received just $1.5 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2020. Reuters reports. Read the Eurodad report here.

• Dr Yarimar Bonilla, director of Centro, the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College, Cuny, wrote in The New York Times about the struggles, difficulties and need for reliable electricity and relief funds of Puerto Ricans. Repeating Island has an excerpt.

• In Puerto Rico, schools that do not have basic water and electricity restored after recent extreme weather will not resume teaching according to the Department of Education. The Centre for Investigative Journalism reports.

• The University of Guyana’s Green Growth Institute and the UN made recordings of its Policy Dialogues on the Triple Planetary Crises with international experts available to be viewed. These include discussions on IPCC findings on forests, petroleum and natural gas in Guyana, true development and natural resources, and carbon pricing and international climate markets.

• Read Climate Analytics-Caribbean’s new report, Assessment of Adaptation Potentials in the Context of Climate Change: the Case of Tropical Cyclones in the Caribbean.

• Liz Thompson, Deputy President of the Senate of Barbados and Barbados’ Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary with Responsibility for Climate Change, Small Island Developing States and Law of the Sea, discussed with ECLAC, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, how the Caribbean and small island developing states (SIDS) are vulnerable to climate change disasters which leave countries stranded in debt, thus the multilateral system needs more sensitive measure than GDP/GNI to determine if countries get funding.

• Climate change is causing more people to experience mental health distress worldwide. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging countries to include mental health support in their response to the climate crisis. The Summary for Policymakers of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report ‘Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ states climate health has affected physical and mental health from events associated with, “Increasing temperatures, trauma from weather and climate extreme events, and loss of livelihoods and culture.” The Jamaica Gleaner reports.

• Season two’s episodes of Jamaican YCCPC’ Environmentally Speaking podcast address the risks of impending deep-sea mining. Available on all major platforms. SOA Caribbean is also calling all Caribbean youth to share their thoughts on deep sea mining through this brief survey. SOA Caribbean is asking for this survey to be shared with at least five friends. This is in preparation for the International Seabed Authority meeting in Jamaica next month.

• Is the Caribbean leading the way in early detection, response and evacuation for natural disasters? The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction discusses. 

• The Centre for Disaster Protection published a report called: Contributions and challenges of disaster risk financing as a response to climate change induced losses and damages.

• Jamaican Dr Stacy-Ann Robinson, assistant professor of Environmental Studies at Colby College, participated in the University of Pennsylvania’s Climate Week, delivered a 1.5-minute lecture called, “Climate justice in an unjust world.”

• On the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR), Bahamas’ Office of the Prime Minister, Disaster Reconstruction Authority and NEMA hosted the First Annual Disaster Risk Reduction Summit, aimed at fostering interagency and international cooperation for multi-hazard disaster risk management. In his keynote address, Prime Minister Davis commended efforts to advance risk reduction in the nation. View the full event here. 

Oil and Gas

• While Guyana has established a legislative and regulatory framework to manage its oil revenues, Director of Energy at Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) Arthur Deakin said a deeper analysis exposes that the checks and balances implemented are closely tied to the Executive branch. He alluded that this does not bode well for transparency and accountability. Kaieteur News reports.

• President of Transparency International Guyana Inc (TIGI), Fredrick Collins, while discussing ‘The Oil Contract, Political Integrity, and the Role, Importance and Promotion of Transparency in Guyana,’ believes that while other nations have put measures in place to track and monitor the marginalisation of indigenous people in their villages, as a result of mining activities as well as negative environmental impacts on fisherfolk owing to oil and gas operations, Guyana is yet to put such systems in place. Kaieteur News reports.

• A group of Guyanese citizens picketed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA’s) Head Office after the body, which is mandated by law to protect the environment and its inhabitants, failed to respond to a letter signed by 54 people, raising concerns regarding the onshore hazardous waste facilities servicing the petroleum sector. Kaieteur News reports. 

Economic, Finance and Debt

• Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and David Malpass, the World Bank president, know that an increasing number of countries are having problems paying their debts, and the crunch point is fast arriving. The Guardian UK reports.

• Leaders representing 16 Caribbean countries met with the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen in Barbados and agreed on the main priorities for the cooperation that the EU will dedicate to the Caribbean until 2027 through three partnerships under the Global Gateway, respectively focusing on “Green Deal.” “Economic Resilience and Trade” as well as “Governance, Security and Human Development”. Eyewitness News reports.

• UNAIDS warns that HIV, COVID-19 and other health investments are in danger due to a looming debt crisis in Africa and the developing world. The pandemic caused highly indebted countries to use four times more of their revenues on debt repayments than on health investments, reveals UNAIDS report A Pandemic Triad. The report showed the debt crisis and war in Ukraine deepened the fiscal crisis of developing countries, severely undermining their capacity to invest in health. 

Haiti

• Daniel Foote, the former special envoy to Haiti, has offered scorching criticism of plans to meddle in the ongoing democratic crisis that has gripped the nation. The New Republic discusses how international intervention has never benefitted Haitians. 

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote a letter on October 8 to the Security Council recommending, among other suggestions, that it provides “enhanced security support” to the Haitian National Police, or HNP, to “combat high levels of gang violence” in the capital. Guterres said that one or more countries could deploy a “rapid action force” to assist the HNP, in cooperation with the Haitian government; a UN peacekeeping mission is not on the radar.

• Reuters reports that the UN Security Council is considering creating a sanctions regime to impose an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on anyone who threatens the peace, security or stability of Haiti, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Thursday.

• Medical NGOs and civil society groups in Haiti are warning that the government’s plan to request foreign military intervention to restore order will only cause more bloodshed. On Friday, the government formally authorised the prime minister, Ariel Henry, to request “specialised armed forces” to take back control of Port-au-Prince gangs. The Guardian reports.

• The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released a Haiti report documenting sexual violence by gang members as a “weapon of terror.” Among other aspects, the report said that children had been subjected to “collective rapes for hours in front of their parents.”

• The United Nations warns of a catastrophic food crisis in Haiti. Along with gang violence, drought is affecting crop production and contracting cholera is a death sentence. 

• Gangsters blockading a major fuel terminal in Haiti are causing catastrophic hunger on the island, United Nations officials have said, with more than four million people facing severe insecurity and more than 19,000 others suffering from famine. Aljazeera reports.

• Haiti’s neighbour, the Dominican Republic, is cracking down on migrants, using the military for border security. Loop Caribbean reports, “Dominican President Luis Abinader announced the country’s biggest purchase of military gear since 1961 – six helicopters, ten aircraft, 21 armoured vehicles and four anti-riot trucks.”

Human Rights

• Jamaican Tyron McDonald forgave the member of the police who fatally shot him but asked his family to seek justice to clear his name. The Jamaica Gleaner reports.

• The Jamaican group Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), an independent public policy think tank dedicated to the production and dissemination of impartial, evidence-based research, released a new report on unpaid care and domestic labour. Here is the presentation of the report.

• In Guyana, the Clerical and Commercial Workers’ Union (CCWU) rejects all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and intolerance, including institutional racism and racial prejudices, and stereotyping by any politician or institution who seeks to gain political favour through racism. Kaieteur News published this letter to the editor from Sherwood Clarke, the CCWU’s general secretary.  

• Jewel Major is the first member from The Bahamas and from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to be elected to serve on the UN’s Human Rights Council Advisory Committee.  Major is an assistant director of legal affairs in the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Legal Affairs. The Government of the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

• Amilcar Sanatan, in his column with The Catholic News in Trinidad and Tobago, discusses the need for deaf inclusion and how the Church created an inclusive space during mass. 

Food Security

• As Caribbean countries started to focus on tourism, they have become less dedicated to agriculture. Now they import the majority of the food they eat. In a 2020 reflection that remains relevant, Ralph Birkhoff, COO of Island Growers Caribbean, discussed how the Caribbean needs to be more food secure, especially now that the cost of food imports will go up because of the war in Ukraine.  

Security

• Jamaica and other CARICOM countries plagued with gun violence are urged to join Mexico in its plight to sue gun manufacturers whose products illegally enter into Caribbean territories in The Jamaica Gleaner editorial. 

Land boundary

• Guyana’s Foreign Secretary, Robert M. Persaud wrote to The Chief Executive Officers of Facebook and Twitter to remove incorrect maps which have the wrong boundaries between Guyana and Venezuela printed. Persaud claims this is part of an orchestrated disinformation campaign that can cause problems between the two countries. 

• The Citizens and Friends of Jamaica are petitioning VICE Media to investigate and expose the regional practice of privatising beaches in the Caribbean, leading with the impending privatisation of Bob Marley Beach.

LGBTIQ+ Rights

• Maurice Tomlinson, a Jamaican LGBT activist residing in Canada, is calling on airlines to boycott homophobic countries. Recently, Virgin Airlines allowed its staff to wear a uniform that aligns with their gender identity. Amid this display of corporate allyship, Tomlinson wants Virgin to stop its four weekly flights to Jamaica, a country that criminalises LGBT people and is so homophobic people can be killed in mob attacks. 76 Crimes published his op-ed. 

Decolonisation

• J. Pearson, in a letter to the editor in Guyana’s Kaieteur News, said  the CARICOM Reparations Commissions’ (CRC) Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice is “inadequate and needs to be addressed.”

• Amílcar Sanatan discusses in Trinidad and Tobago’s The Catholic News the roles the Catholic Church played in slavery and the development of the Americas.

Arts and Culture

• From Our Abuelas is a series of articles running across Hearst Magazines (Elle, Esquire, Oprah Daily, Runner’s World, Veranda) to honour grandmothers and preserve generations of wisdom within Latinx and Hispanic communities. Repeating Islands discusses.

Opportunities

• Nominations for the Colin Robinson Hard Head Awards are now open. People between 18-35, Trinbagonian or your work is based in T&T and are stubborn, boldfaced and committed in activism for a more just world (gender, climate, labour, and more) could be the winner of the 2022 Colin Robinson Hard Head Award.

Events

• The University of Oxford’s Caribbean Studies Network is hosting a discussion with Professor Shalini Puri from the University of Pittsburgh, on her new book: “Freshwater Poetics in the Caribbean: Postcard Pasts, Dread Futures” on Tuesday 25th October 2-3pm, online. This will be done in dialogue with Isabel Hofmeyr, Mimi Sheller, Saidiya Hartman, Kei Miller and Olive Senior, discussing water scarcity in the Caribbean in the context of climate change, and attempts to witness, represent, interpret, and amplify such everyday encounters with scarcity.  Click here to register. 

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