WITH THE number of named storms this year (29) breaking the record of 2005 (28), the time is ripe for concerted efforts toward national and regional stakeholder engagement on climate change, which promises to exacerbate the impacts of storms and hurricane events that affect the island.
So says Shelly Ann Dunkley, founder and chief executive officer of Live ECCO, which is collaborating with Environmental Solutions Limited and, more recently, Scotiabank, to bring to the national and regional public the observation of the inaugural Caribbean Environment Week this week.
Live ECCO is a green lifestyle media outlet whose mission is to educate and increase consumer awareness while aiming to help make ‘going green’ a simple, gradual, and affordable process.
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So far this week, the live sessions have covered topics including ‘Youth in Action’, ‘Climate Change: Our New Reality, and ‘Financing for a Sustainable Future’. The next few days will take stock of ‘Financing for a Sustainable Future’, ‘Achieving Economic Growth with Sustainable Development’;, ‘Planning for an Uncertain Future’, and ‘Waste Management Strategies in the Caribbean’.
Now three days into the discussions – brought live online via the Zoom platform as well as on YouTube at @Iveco from the offices of the Branson Centre and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) in Kingston – Dunkley is urging members of the public to join the conversation.
“We need to look at the state of our environment. Climate change is a real thing that will impact our daily lives, that is impacting our daily lives. Especially for the next couple of days, we are talking development, including in construction and real estate. And the question is, are we building for what is to come? It is something that we really need to handle,” she maintained.
Various other stakeholders have long championed the need to bring the public into national regional discussions on climate change, which is fueling not only the warming of the planet, but also sea-level rise, including as seen in the Caribbean. Climate change also threatens extreme weather events the likes of which have been experienced across sections of the Caribbean over recent years.
It was earlier this year that celebrated climate scientist Professor Michael Taylor marshalled the hosting, by The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, of another virtual conference on the subject. That activity attracted more than 1,000 academics and representatives from the private sector from across the Caribbean and with the intent of bringing into sharp focus the need to prioritise a look at the linkages between COVID-19 and the environment– in the context of a changing climate.
“Notwithstanding the temporary reprieve that the pandemic seemed to provide for some aspects of the environment, there does not seem to be any significant inclusion of environmental concerns or even mention of the environment in discussions related to reopening, recovery, and living in the new COVID era,” Taylor, dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at The UWI, said at the time.
“This would include a lack of discussion on how to maintain gains seen or how to handle environmental threats still present while also trying to deal with COVID-19,” the physicist added.
Fast-forward more than four months, and Dunkley is hoping the Live Ecco discussions will help to cement for participants their own role in climate-change response – from taking stock of their own individual consumption of plastics, for example, to engaging in advocacy at the community and national levels as part of change making.
“I want people to be aware of their impact. They must understand that we as humans have an impact on the environment, and for us to continue living on planet Earth, there has to be a level of co-existence. We have to care for our environment because the environment, in return, cares for us,” she noted.
