#BTColumn – Small island states push back

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Anne T. Gallagher

Small island states are experiencing global warming in ways most of us can barely imagine.

From the Pacific to the Caribbean, these tiny, already very vulnerable nations are battered by hurricanes and rising sea levels; their shores recede; salinization is ruining agricultural land and compromising vital sources of fresh water.

Entire villages and communities are physically moving to higher ground.

For countries like Tuvalu in the Pacific and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, claims of existential risk are not alarmist.

Rather, they reflect the very real possibility that, along with some of the world’s other 192 nation states, Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda will not physically exist in just a few decades.

And this is not the only path to disaster. Because they lack the capacity to absorb large shocks, a single severe weather event in a small island state can wipe out livelihoods and decimate the economy.

Some countries will sink while others will swim.

The global diplomatic discourse around the climate privileges a false equivalence, a mantra that we are all responsible, that we are in the same boat. But it’s wrong. Some countries will sink while others will swim.

Some countries are much more responsible than others for climate damage. Some continue to enrich themselves knowing full well that they are causing real and lasting harm.

On the first day of the COP26 climate summit, Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda took a small but important step towards climate justice.

Side by side, the prime ministers of these two small nations announced the creation of a Small Island States Commission on Climate Change and International Law.

This is a capital development. Until now, international law has not been used consistently or effectively to hold countries to account for the harm they have inflicted on others through practices that contribute to global warming.

This despite well-established principles such as “polluter pays”; a dense web of rules that assign liability for foreseeable damage and require it to remedy it; and a network of courts and tribunals that exist to enforce these laws and hold offenders to account.

The hope is that all countries in positions similar to Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda will join the Commission. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), an intergovernmental body that brings together small developing and low-lying coastal states, plays a key role here.

The alliance has helped bring its members to the big table: to amplify the voices of those who would otherwise be relegated to the sidelines.

AOSIS Member States understand very well the problem of false equivalence. They are beginning to reject handouts, instead demanding debt relief and equitable access to vital funding for mitigation and adaptation as a right.

They are now going even further: they are threatening, in very clear terms, to take their claims for loss and damage to international courts and tribunals.

They will no longer wait patiently while the promises of the rich and powerful are broken.

The issue of liability and compensation for loss and damage associated with global warming has long been a sticking point in climate diplomacy and a focal point for civil society advocacy.

Despite strong lobbying by AOSIS members, the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC) did not include meaningful recognition of loss and damage. Subsequent efforts by state parties to the UNFCCC to fill this gap have been muted and largely unsuccessful.

The announcement of an international loss and damage commission—established outside the formal “system”—should be taken as a clear sign that small island developing countries have had enough.

They will no longer be lectured about the need to cut their own low-carbon emissions while archaic development finance rules impede their access to vital funds.

They will no longer wait patiently while the promises of the rich and powerful are broken. They will no longer claim to be satisfied with vague commitments and empty promises.

For Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda and Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu, now is the time to use the sharp tools of international law to hold those most responsible for global warming to account. They deserve our respect and support.

Anne T. Gallagher AO is Executive Director of the Commonwealth Foundation.

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