BROOKLYN, NY – The newly appointed Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, has urged the international community to escalate climate change to the same urgency as the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly Debate on Saturday, Mitchell said that the COVID‑19 pandemic had taught the international community the value of cooperation, timely exchange of information, and sharing of resources.
“Therefore, the matter of climate change must be escalated to the same level of urgency,” he said. “The world must now accept that the solutions to these problems cannot be found in this grand Hall but rather in young people, who stand to lose the most from the inaction of the world’s current leaders.”
He called on young people to be agents of change rather than victims of climate change.
The Grenadian leader said the small island States of the Caribbean are already experiencing significant effects of climate change.
“We watch and wait, with bated breath and a silent prayer, in the hope that this year it will not be ‘our turn,’” he said, reiterating his call for the scaling up of climate finance for adaptation and the removal of challenges that developing states face to access climate financing.
The prime minister also called for increased technology development and capacity-building, especially for young people.
He noted that the pandemic exposed structural weaknesses and resource deficiencies in his country’s healthcare system.
In addition, the ensuing closure of borders and tourism stagnation exacerbated already high unemployment and poverty levels.
In this regard, Mitchell said his administration plans to mitigate such circumstances in the future by diversifying its economy and developing information and communications technologies.
Stating that the war in Ukraine has resulted in hardships for nations unconnected with the conflict, the Grenadian leader joined the call for the Russian Federation to end its war efforts in Ukraine and for the parties to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
In addition, he renewed his call for the Caribbean to remain a zone of peace and for Cuba to be removed from the United States List of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
Further, he said it was regrettable that more has not been done for Haiti to help it achieve political stability, peace, and economic progress.
Mitchell reaffirmed Grenada’s support for the International Court of Justice’s efforts regarding the border dispute between Guyana and Venezuela’s support for Guyana’s territorial integrity. He called for the imposition of unilateral coercive measures against Venezuela.
He also stressed that, for small island states to eliminate poverty and attain sustainable levels of development, the vulnerability criteria must be comprehensively reviewed “as a matter of urgency.”
In this nexus, Prime Minister Mitchell called for a new multidimensional vulnerability index for Small Island Developing States, which would, he said, “eliminate the threat to our economic development and security.”
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