Tuesday, November 9, James Cadet, the Minister of the Environment delivered a speech at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) within the framework of the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in the presence of senior officials of States of the 197 signatory countries of the Convention.

While climate change remains the foundation of the Minister's intervention, the place occupied by the financing of rich countries for the benefit of poor countries remains omnipresent, whether it concerns the recognition of the "losses and damages" suffered by poor countries in due to global warming or the commitment of 100 billion dollars per year by developed countries made in Copenhagen in 2009 in order to mobilize, from 2020, funding in favor of developing countries to finance their actions to fight against change climate. Commitment not respected and postponed to a vague agenda in 2023, to the great disappointment and frustration of the poorest countries, insignificant contributors to global warming and helpless victim...

"[...]

Mister President.

In the name of solidarity and climate justice and in order to avoid even more pronounced imbalances in developing countries like Haiti, it is important to resolutely change the paradigm in climate multilateralism. The time for good intentions must be over. The countries most affected by the phenomenon like Haiti can no longer wait [...] a strong and clear signal must be sent by the developed countries whose historical responsibility in the phenomenon is no longer to be demonstrated.

This strong signal should be crystallized through, in particular :

• The respect of the financial commitments of 2009 and more precisely the 100 billion US $ per year from 2020, without forgetting the identification of the ways and means for the new financial ceiling by 2025;

• More funding for adaptation, especially for the most vulnerable countries, to strike a balance with mitigation;

• A real relaxation of procedures for accessing climate finance;

• A well-crafted program for monitoring the Global Adaptation Goal of the Paris Agreement;

• Recognition of loss and damage as a separate pillar of action from adaptation;

• A new and additional funding mechanism to avoid, minimize and address the exceptional issue of loss and damage.

[...] There is no need to recall how much climate issues primarily concern countries like Haiti, whose ecological and demographic vulnerability is indisputable. […] Indeed, in Haiti, such a situation will undoubtedly result in an exponential increase in the costs of adaptation as well as those of losses and damages [...]"

Download Minister Cadet's full speech :

https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/discours-ministre-mde-COP26-r1.pdf

Download the study on estimating the costs of the impacts of climate change in Haiti presented at COP21 : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/UNDP-HT-ProEnv-EtuEconoCC.pdf

HL/ HaitiLibre