Beckles: Region to lobby for 'climate justice' at summit meeting

MINISTER of Planning and Development Pennelope Beckles has said while climate change has had a global impact, it has had "even greater catastrophic effects" on small island developing nations, including Trinidad and Tobago. She vowed to help the region send a "clear, strong, collaborative message" about climate justice.

She was speaking at the launch of the 2022 Green Infrastructure Conference at the Hilton on Tuesday morning. The conference is a joint venture between the National Gas Company (NGC) and the IAMovement.

The 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) climate summit will be held in Egypt from November 6-18.

Beckles said since TT is a party to the Paris Agreement, her ministry is "laying the groundwork" for the country's participation through the Environmental Policy and Planning Division.

"We are today, as we speak, conducting a preparatory consultation with stakeholder groups on issues to be addressed at COP27, and in the coming weeks we will also conduct stakeholder sessions regarding the UN’s Conference on Biodiversity, also known as COP15.

"(COP27) will allow our Caribbean region to represent our people and again approach the global North to deliver a clear, strong, collaborative message not only seeking heartfelt support, but more so to lobby for climate justice on behalf of our region."

She said despite countries like TT contributing the least to global warming and emissions that contribute to climate change, they suffer the greatest losses and damage due to climate-related crises.

"Steps towards the conservation and management of our limited land resources, and building resilience are crucial.

She said people can reduce their carbon footprint by planting trees and through maintenance, subsistence gardening to subsidise food, imports and improving the resilience of the land to climate-change impacts.

She urged people to consider more "green, nature-positive" approaches, as they are very beneficial.

"It is baffling why we have not, as a global community, utilised and institutionalised more of these solutions throughout our development plans and individual nations’ development trajectories."

Beckles also spoke about vetiver grass, as she believes it has the capacity to offset carbon emissions "through sequestration, as well as its serving as a low-cost solution to adaptation through improvement of land integrity, especially in areas where erosion due to climate events is a chronic problem.

"The vetiver system is even used as a source of livelihood-generation, as the hedges can be harvested for use in the production of handicraft and indigenous products."

She said the conference shows the commitment of people, "a commitment that goes beyond policy and politics to emphasise what national, scaled greening efforts can aspire to be within our Caribbean community."

She added that she was pleased to see many young attendees.

"These are the faces that give me the energy to lobby for better, to be a champion for climate justice, and to be an advocate today for greener investments and diversified portfolios that can lead us to a pathways that we all can enjoy tomorrow."

Kevan Kalapnath-Maharaj, managing director of IAMovement, said taking the "right steps" with the environment in TT and globally, "is also in line with the best decision we can make as a country to the economic, social and energy security of our people now and into the future."