THE HAGUE, Netherlands, CMC—Barbados has told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the island’s “serene” beauty will be obliterated “if we do not cease forms of global conduct that will leave our island uninsurable, uninvestable and, ultimately, uninhabitable.”
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Kerrie Symmonds warned that the climate change crisis “is an imminent matter of life and death for us.”
Barbados is the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to appear before the ICJ, which is holding public hearings on the request for an advisory opinion on the Obligation of States regarding climate change.
Earlier this week, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne appealed to the ICJ to use its voice to “inspire action” that has eluded the political arena as his country and other small island developing states (SIDS) seek an advisory opinion on states’ obligations regarding climate change.
The ICJ holds advisory proceedings on the “Obligations of States regarding Climate Change Oral” until December 13.
Symmonds told the ICCJ that the climate change situation is not a statistical matter, nor is it a theoretical or speculative matter, “but it is a matter of life and death, simply because for the people of Small Island Developing States such as mine, there is nowhere to go when confronted with rising sea levels; there is no hinterland, there is no interior, there is no area of as yet unexplored territory.
“ll that we have is 166 square miles of land territory for our 300,000 residents,” Symmonds said, adding that Barbados, like other SIDS, is surrounded by coral reefs that play a key role in nurturing and protecting coastal communities and facilitating nearshore economic activities such as fishing and leisure.
“The sea is not only a home to our biodiversity but a source of our livelihood. Carbon emissions from human activity are causing ocean warming and acidification, which puts our coral reef and its entire ecosystem at risk.”
He said, as a consequence, “Everything, Everything that we have painstakingly constructed as a people is at risk because of the climate crisis:
“The tourism sector, which has buoyed our economic fortunes for the better part of a century, is at risk; The fishing sector, which has been a sustainable source of protein for generations of Barbadians, is at risk; The sugar cane we have grown for hundreds of years and from which we distill our world-famous rum is also at risk.”
The Barbados Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister said that Hurricane Beryl swept through the Caribbean in July and moved from being “a ” simple tropical storm to a Category five hurricane in approximately 24 hours.
“Hurricane Beryl impacted Barbados and destroyed 90 percent of Barbados’s fishing fleet. A fleet that had been hauled behind the protection of marinas and breakwaters that had existed for over 35 years.
“However, such was the unprecedented intensity of the waves Beryl sent our way that those 35-year-old protections proved insufficient, and marinas that had hitherto provided sanctuary became scenes of destruction.
“What you might not have heard of is another startling example of the effects of the climate crisis in the Caribbean: prolonged drought. The first five months of 2023 saw levels of rainfall which were 53 percent below the preceding 30-year average for Barbados during the first five months of those years.”
Symmonds said storms like Beryl, prolonged periods of droughts, and slow-onset phenomena such as sea level rise and rising temperatures are the catastrophic “new normal” that has become our lived reality.
He said the economic consequences are no less palpable and that even as productive sectors are affected, the state’s ability to provide support is undermined by rising finance costs and, increasingly, the challenge of securing sustainable insurance.
“My country, like some regions in larger countries, is in grave danger of becoming uninsurable. It follows logically, Mr President, that without the ability to access or sustain insurance premia, a country’s economy will also become uninvestable.
“Barbados contends, and science demonstrates, that these are the consequences of this artificial climate crisis. A crisis towards which Barbados and Small Island Developing States have contributed almost nothing, but which may take Everything we have.”
Symmonds said Barbados firmly believes in the international legal order, so it accepted the ICJ’s compulsory jurisdiction 44 years ago.
“Today, we appear, for the first time, before this Court respectfully to request clear answers to the clear questions posed, unanimously, by the UN General Assembly,” he said, quoting a poem from one of Barbados’ most celebrated poets, Kamau Brathwaite, in which he paints “a vivid picture of what my country represents today:
“That serene picture stands to be obliterated if we do not cease forms of global conduct which will leave our island uninsurable, uninvestable, and, ultimately, uninhabitable,” Symmonds said.
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