By Gemma Handy
The country’s ambassador for climate change Diann Black-Layne is to depart the role she has held for the last 16 years.
She will remain as Director of the Department of Environment.
As ambassador, Black-Layne has a number of major achievements under her belt, including helping negotiate for the establishment of the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund (GCF). Founded in 2010, the GCF is the world’s largest dedicated fund helping developing countries respond to evolving weather patterns.
But as the international conversation shifts to a clamour for climate justice, Black-Layne is preparing to hand over the reins to Ruleta Camacho-Thomas, who is currently the country’s Deputy Parks Commissioner.
Black-Layne took on the ambassadorship in 2008 to support the then UPP government with its work accessing finance as part of the G-77, a United Nations coalition of developing countries.
That work, she says, is now complete and the unpaid position on top of her main job simply requires more time than she has available.
She describes the fight for climate justice as “very interesting, very important, but very not my field”.
“The position is really labour intensive, and intellectually it requires a lot of research,” she told Observer.
“You can’t go into it without proper research and the right numbers. You have to go through a very rigorous process of getting the details so you can speak with authority. That takes up a lot of time.
“I’m a mother of three kids, including a special needs daughter who has Down Syndrome. Like all kids, and especially the one with special needs, they require a lot of care.
“The position of ambassador for climate change is non-paid. You have to be dedicated, which I clearly am and I’m really grateful for the opportunity to be able to do it, but the work-life balance is just not there,” she added.
Black-Layne will remain in the role for the next two months to help ease Camacho-Thomas in, before exiting in July.
Black-Layne said her successor’s passion would set her in good stead for the task ahead and that she was confident she would make an excellent ambassador.
Camacho-Thomas brings considerable experience as a former Deputy Director of the Department of Environment and a previous attendee at global climate summit COP.
Climate justice is a concept that has arisen in recent years and at its core is the acknowledgement that those disproportionately impacted by climate change are generally not those responsible for causing it.
Black-Layne explained why the crusade to access compensation is crucial, particularly for small island developing states.
“Climate justice means the polluter must pay; it’s as simple as that. If you pollute somebody’s environment, you need to pay.
“We have the Litter Act, for example, and we have a whole body of international law, so if you are pumping out a pollutant you must pay to clean it up and you must be responsible for it,” she said.
“Greenhouse gases are a pollutant that go into the environment, and the people who are polluting are not the ones who are paying,” she said.
“Right now the people who are paying out money into things like the Green Climate Fund are just regular taxpayers, rather than the fossil fuel industry.”
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