World leaders have been told that they need to take the vulnerabilities of Small Island Development States seriously.
Those sentiments were echoed by Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of the Environment, Sir Molwyn Joseph, when he addressed the 2nd Climate and Development Ministerial meeting yesterday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He said that there should be a commitment and understanding of the peculiarities of Small Island Developing States.
“The fact of the matter is, it has been over 30 years that we have been waiting to see some tangible evidence that our vulnerabilities are taken seriously,” Joseph said.
Loss and damage, according to him, are already on the provisional agenda but they must be on the agenda for Conference of the Parties (COP).
“It’s important to establish trust in this process and it is also important to establish solidarity and I believe the action of getting Loss and Damage on the agenda of COP goes a long way in establishing that,” Joseph said.