NASSAU, Bahamas — United States special presidential climate envoy John Kerry last night told government officials at a welcome reception hosted by the US Embassy that every country must join in the fight against climate change and do its part to respond to the crisis for the future generations to come, The Tribune reported on Wednesday, February 15, in an article written by Leandra Rolle.
Mr Kerry, who previously served as the 68th US Secretary of State, is a part of a 20-plus member delegation from the US that is in The Bahamas for the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting.
The high-level talks will begin on Thursday and end on Friday, but a ceremony to mark the event’s opening will be held later this evening.
Last night, US Chargé d’Affaires Usha Pitts hosted a welcome reception in honour of CARICOM, which saw a number of senior government ministers, among them Prime Minister Phillip Davis, in attendance.
Mr Kerry, former US Senator Chris Dodd and Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols and other CARICOM officials were also present.
Speaking at the event, Mr Kerry told those gathered that their reason for coming to The Bahamas for CARICOM was simply to listen to the concerns of all regional leaders and hear the challenges they face in dealing with the effects of climate change, among other things.
He said the issue of climate change was one that he and President Joe Biden were passionate about and agreed that the time for action was now.
“You can’t say this is an existential issue in one breath and then walk around and slow walk our approach to the technologies, to the challenges we face particularly in island states. The island states of the world and the sub-Saharan African states. I mean 48 sub–Saharan African countries equal 0.555 percent of all the emissions in the world,” Mr Kerry said.
“The 20 major economies of the world equal 80 percent of all those emissions—80—and so we need to move.”
He continued: “I just want to say to all of you, it takes everybody. Every country has got to be a part of this journey and you know The Bahamas and other countries in the region don’t contribute a lot to it, but we all have a vested interest in making certain that we’re on a track to do what our citizens want us to do and citizens around the world want us to do, which is to respond to this crisis.
“So, we’ll talk tomorrow, and I came here along with Chris and Brian and the rest of our delegation, we came here to listen.
“We want to listen to you — how do you deal with the resilience issue? What are the choices in terms of adaptation? What are options in terms of our ability to deal with food production and quick response to increasingly intense storms which take their wrath on the islands again and again and again, most recently, with Dorian.
“So, my friends, we’re all in this together. Different layers of contribution, different levels of responsibility, but every one of us has to take measure of our responsibility to live up to the hopes and aspirations of our kids and grandkids.”
For his part, Mr Nichols thanked the government for its hospitality and said the US delegation was looking forward to having great conversations at CARICOM.
“This is a great opportunity for the United States and CARICOM to strengthen our ties, to work together across a whole host of issues. You have with us, as the charge has laid out, a very wide range of people from US government to cover an incredible relationship that we have and to address the shared challenges that we face,” he said. See complete article in The Tribune at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2023/feb/15/john-kerry-us-delegation-here-listen/
