Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers with responsibility for the Environment are raising concerns over the financial capacity of their institutions to confront environmental challenges

​Photo: The Hon. Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, Chair of the 112th Special Meeting of COTED on the Environment and Sustainable Development
 
Climate change, threats to biodiversity, economic uncertainty due to external shocks, and limited institutional and financial capacity, are the key concerns of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministers with responsibility for the Environment. The concerns were highlighted during the 112th Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development on The Environment and Sustainable Development conducted virtually on May 15, 2024.
 
Pennelope Beckles-Robinson, Minister of Planning and Development of Trinidad & Tobago, chaired the half-day Meeting which focused on the upcoming Fourth Conference of Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), environment & natural resource governance of the Community, climate change and disaster risk reduction in Antigua & Barbuda. Matters related to plastic pollution and the new agreement under the Law of the Sea on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) were also discussed.
 
In her remarks during the opening session, the Chair referred to the Region’s dependence on its marine resources and healthy ecosystems. These, she said, are threatened by climate change, biodiversity loss and plastic pollution livelihoods associated with industries like tourism and fisheries makeup significant parts of the GDP of countries, which also benefit significantly from biological resources in the form of food, clean water, reduced beach erosion, soil and sand formation, and protection from storm surges.”  Beckles-Robinson said. However she highlighted the Region’s peculiar position of limited institutional capacity and financial resources, and its vulnerability to external shocks which are development constraints.