BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC -Barbados has made oral presentations before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), holding its 166th Regular Session until Friday.
The submissions by the Barbados delegation, headed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade’s Director General, Donna Forde, followed written observations submitted on December 18, 2023.
In her presentation, Forde stressed the impact of the climate crisis on Barbados and the threat it poses to this country’s overall sustainability and development. She also noted that climate change is increasingly making Barbados a location of extreme weather events.
“Historically, Barbados has not been prone to hurricanes or extreme weather because of our location at the eastern edge of the Caribbean. In 2021, that changed…. Because of climate change, Barbados’ beautiful beaches are at severe risk of submerging.
“Barbados’ good food and infrastructure are at severe risk of being swept away by the tides. Our island’s vibrant tourism economy faces severe risks. Climate change threatens the production of the sugar cane we need to produce our unsurpassed rums,” Forde said.
During her presentation, she noted that due to the increased number of weather events and the damage that followed, property and business insurance was becoming expensive and might soon become inaccessible.
Director General Forde suggested to the Court that human-made climate change adversely affects all states, all peoples, and all ecologies worldwide and that states that lack physical resources and fiscal space to manage these impacts of climate change are the most vulnerable to its harmful effects.
“Ironically, those worst-affected states are not the ones that caused climate change. Barbados is one of those states that did not cause climate change. Yet Barbados is predicted to be one of the worst-affected countries in the future. And, critically, Barbados lacks the physical and fiscal space to manage climate change’s impacts effectively.”
Forde said that, like many other small island developing states in the same position, Barbados is looking to the Court to identify the applicable international legal norms relevant to climate change that are binding on the Organization of American States member states under the Convention.
Director General Forde said Barbados is confident that the Court will act according to law and justice and pleaded with the Court to “do so quickly because the world cannot wait.”
By the Resolution of February 22, 2024, the hearings in Barbados will be followed by a second set of hearings, using the same process, which will take place in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 24, and in Manaus, Brazil, from May 27 to 29.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has stressed the urgency of addressing the effects of climate change on vulnerable countries, saying that it affects every aspect of a government’s operations.
She made the point during a courtesy call with IACtHR President Judge Nancy Hernández López and her fellow judges.
Mottley told the delegation that hosting the 166th Regular Session was “an important moment” for all Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
Barbados clearly states that there can be no separation between people and the planet… Having spent 30 years in public life, I can say without fear of contradiction that virtually no aspect of government is impacted by the climate crisis… This is fundamentally a crisis that affects every aspect of our lives.”
The Prime Minister also discussed Barbados’ groundwater scarcity and challenges with accessing concessionary rates and longer borrowing tenors from international financial institutions and multilateral development banks to help the country finance its adaptation measures.
Special mention was made about the difficulty of increasing insurance premiums for SIDS to secure loans to rebuild after a natural disaster.
Judge Hernández López thanked Prime Minister Mottley for her leadership on the climate crisis and urged the Caribbean to support the Court’s efforts to secure adequate climate financing for SIDS during the Organization of American States’ public hearing sessions on July 6.
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