ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Caribbean health and environment ministers ended a two-day meeting here approving a plan of action to ensure that the health of those living in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is protected and prioritized within the global climate change agenda.
“Just as we bring climate change to the heart of the health sector, we must work to bring health to the heart of climate change discussions. We believe this action plan is an important step in that direction,” said the director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr. Carissa F. Etienne.”
Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell told the “Third Global Conference on Health and Climate Change: Special Focus on Small Island Developing States,” which ended here on Thursday, that the effects of climate change are being experienced daily.
“As leaders, we have a responsibility for a future generation. We have to protect this earth for them. Placing this issue at the top of the agenda is crucial.
“Just as we bring climate change to the heart of the health sector, we must work to bring health to the heart of climate change discussions. We believe this action plan is an important step in that direction,” he added.
PAHO, which convened the conference, said Mitchell’s concerns was echoed by the delegates, who highlighted that, despite being among the nations least responsible for climate change in terms of Greenhouse Gases, it is the SIDS that are already seeing the most adverse effects.
“We all understand that climate change will continue to affect our oceans, agriculture, food production and water resources, but ultimately, the main impacts through all these sectors and pathways are on health,” said Dr. Etienne.
PAHO said many SIDS are already seeing an increase in climate-change related events, including high burdens of climate-sensitive diseases, such as vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases; more frequent and severe extreme weather events; and rising sea levels.
The agreed action plan establishes a variety of recommendations in order to ensure that their specific needs are taken into consideration, PAHO said.
It said these include the development of mechanisms to ensure that SIDS are fully engaged in global-level climate change processes and agreements; that technical cooperation methods are strengthened; and that SIDS are able to access the human, technical and financial resources necessary to address the effects of climate change on health.
Throughout the conference, PAHO said ministers emphasized that while SIDS may have struggled to compete with the voices and resources of larger nations, their commitment to work together and collaborate on issues of health and climate change will help to ensure they are listened to at a global level.
“We have to recognize the strength in numbers,” said Grenada’s Minister of Health and Social Security, Nickolas Steele, adding “every single country here today must recognize that our power is in our vote at the various international fora. When we unite and we speak as one, we are extremely powerful.”
PAHO said the conference formed part of the WHO Initiative on Climate Change and Health in SIDS, which aims to provide national health authorities in SIDS with the political, technical and financial support to better understand and address the effects of climate change on health.
The conference in Grenada was the last of three, geographically dispersed meetings, PAHO said. The first was held in Fiji, for Pacific SIDS, and the second in Mauritius, for SIDS of the African and South-East Asian WHO Regions.
PAHO said the action plan developed will now form part of the WHO Global Action Plan on Climate Change and Health in Small Island Developing States. A more detailed Regional Action Plan will also be utilized as a framework for action in the Caribbean, PAHO said.
“The WHO Director-General gave me instructions – to listen. And we have listened,” said Dr. Joy St. John, Assistant Director-General at WHO.
“But the most important aspect of this Caribbean climate change action plan is that ministers have owned it and will ensure that the job gets done, and that no one gets left behind.”
