Just Caribbean Updates

Jordi Amaral and Arianna Kohan, Just Caribbean Updates

Sept. 20, 2024

As the International Seabed Authority (ISA) studies the potential exploration of deep seabed mining, The Climate Conscious podcast highlights its threats, including that it affects “our best allies against climate change,” as the deep sea provides a myriad of useful functions, including locking away carbon in sediment. Impacts on biodiversity and ocean food supply chains may be highly consequential: “Nodule collection will directly remove habitat required by species, such as the ghost octopus, while other forms of mining could annihilate deep-sea coral gardens and unique life forms found around hydrothermal vents.” 

The Climate Conscious notes, “Scientists warn that even a cautious approach to deep sea mining could be absolutely devastating… Deep sea habitats regenerate and grow incredibly slowly, requiring thousands, if not millions, of years to recover from harm.”

Greenpeace is leading a petition to stop deep sea mining before it starts. Check it out here. Thus far, at least 32 states around the globe have called for a preliminary halt to deep sea mining, per AP.

See also Just Caribbean Updates from August 1, on the ISA elections, and August 16, noting that Brazilian Leticia Carvalho was selected as the group’s new secretary general. 

Slavery Reparations

• All three candidates vying for the position of secretary-general of the Commonwealth – one of the world’s largest international organizations, composed of 56 nations – announced their support for reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonialism last week, reports Reuters.
  
  According to the Guardian, the three candidates, from Gambia, Ghana, and Lesotho, made these announcements during a debate hosted by Chatham House in London.  
  
  

Climate Justice

• Surinamese Indigenous and Tribal leaders are asserting that their right to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) is being violated by the government’s decision to sell carbon credits. The leaders are demanding that the government cease selling these credits.  VIDS and KAMPOS expressed, “For the umpteenth time, the government shows how little it knows about and cares for the rights of Indigenous and Tribal peoples.” 
  
  
• Stop Ecocide International highlights how island nations like Trinidad and Tobago are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and ecocide.
  
  
  • The three Pacific islands of Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa submitted a proposal to the international criminal court (ICC) earlier this week, recognizing “ecocide” as a punishable criminal offense in the same light as genocide and war crimes, reports the Guardian. 
    
    
  • Stop Ecocide International compiles the main opinions and impacts of the proposal, from various international experts on the subject. 
    
    
• Trinidadian researchers Folade Mutota and Jwala Rambarran explore in a new report how the G20 can help Caribbean SIDS escape from their Debt-Climate Change trap. Recommendations include “for the G20 Group to call on the World Bank to increase Caribbean SIDS’ eligibility for and greater access to concessional climate and development finance.” 
  
  
• Caribbean leaders and experts, in conjunction with the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI), are calling for a “Marshall Plan,” for the region. The idea is that Britain’s new Labour government would surge financing to the Caribbean to help respond to the impacts of Hurricane Beryl.
  
  
• “The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Caribbean Division extends congratulations to Carol Francis of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica on being the first recipient of the prestigious TNC/CBU Caribbean Media Award for Excellence in Environmental Journalism – Mangrove and Seagrass Beds,” reports Caribbean News Service.
  
  More on Caribbean Media Awards available here.
  
  
• Caribbean nations convened last week to prepare for their effective participation and negotiation in COP 16, which will be held at the end of October in Cali, Colombia (Caricom).
  
  At COP 16, nations will discuss, among other things, the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework.  
• A new report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights delves into the links between human rights and loss and damage from climate change, offering a series of recommendations for governments and communities to implement. 

Climate Innovation

• A vehicle powered by renewable natural gas (RNG) was presented by Barbados on Tuesday, the first of its kind in the world. (The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus)
  
  
• A new project, led by the University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), aims to establish an Early Warning System (EWS) in strategic, high-risk areas that are most affected by climate change and natural disasters. The initiative will be conducted and carried out through agencies in Trinidad and Tobago.  
  
  

Development and Finance

• A new ECLAC report details the low-growth trap that has been plaguing the region, offering a new approach to productive development. (Caribbean Magazine Plus). 
  
  

Human Rights

• Jordi Amaral explains at the Americas Migration Brief newsletter the rise in disinformation affecting Haitian-Americans in the US, including claims that they are eating pets, and the real-life consequences: Haitian-Americans are staying home from school out of fear, cars have been vandalized, and a local city hall has received bomb threats.
  
  

Migration

• The Voice highlights concerns surrounding nurse emigration from St. Lucia. (via Americas Migration Brief)

Public Security

• The Kenyan-led UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti has little to show for its past three months in the country, argues Caribbean Magazine Plus. Pay issues and shortages of equipment are only some of the challenges facing the troops as they attempt to quell violence. 
  
  
• “The education of over 100,000 school-aged children displaced in Haiti’s Grand South is in jeopardy as the continued surge of violence, particularly in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas, has put immense pressure on local communities and their already fragile social services,” says UNICEF. (via Americas Migration Brief) 
  
  

Culture

• South Korean pop music is gaining in popularity in Cuba, reports AP.
  
  

Events

• A virtual side event to the UN, Human Rights of Future Generation The Path Forward, will occur on zoom on September 21, 2024 10:00 AM ET. Registration here.
  
  
• On Wednesday, 11 September 11 2024, the Guyana Business Journal and Caribbean Policy Consortium held the webinar “A Guyanese Universal Basic Income in the Era of Oil and Gas” to address how UBI could address economic inequality, improve social welfare, and shape Guyana’s future amidst its growing oil and gas sector, with panelists Prof. Clive Thomas, Economist and former Presidential Adviser, Guyana and Prof. Michael A. Lewis, Professor of Social Work, Hunter College, CUNY.  The recording is available here.
  
  
• Guyanese lawyer Melinda Janki explores in a public lecture the environmental implications of Guyana’s oil boom. The recording is available here; see also Kaieteur News coverage here.
  
  

Opportunities

• The Environmental Funders Network is seeking an Executive Director, based in London. More information here. 
  
  
• The Institute of Law and Economics is accepting applications for its “Deepening Democracy in Jamaica” program, open to the public. More information can be found here.
  
  
• ODI shares its work on resilient and sustainable islands initiative (RESI) on this page.  

EnergiesNet.com 09 23 2024