Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell yesterday said the issue of climate change isn’t esoteric anymore, its essential, as government officials head to New York for the United Nations Annual General Assembly (UNGA) next week.
Mr. Mitchell insisted that the country must make the issue of climate change front and center at the UN General Assembly.
“At the UN, the government must also posit the beginning of discussions on the bilateral responsibilities of Canada, the United States and Mexico for climate change refugees,” he said.
“That is really what is behind the desire of our citizens today, to move to the United States after what happened to them in Abaco and Grand Bahama with this hurricane.
“President Donald Trump and Governor DeSantis in Florida may be able to stem the tide of that discussion in the short term. But in the larger term, it is one that must be had and the Bahamas needs to initiate it.”
At the center, Mr. Mitchell said, is the moral obligation.
He added that compensation is owed to those who are in low-lying states like The Bahamas for what industrialized countries like the United States did, using the free air to pump hydro carbons into the air for free.
“The answer is the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have a moral obligation to provide a haven, if as predicted, climate change is existential for The Bahamas and other small island developing states in this region,” he said.
“The small island developing states in the Pacific, some of them have already had that conversation with the governments of New Zealand and Australia. In other words, if those countries in the Pacific are overwhelmed, their populations would be able to move to Australia or New Zealand.”
Mr. Mitchell insisted that Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield raised this issue with the United States, Canada and Mexico.
His comments come after United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned about the effects of the climate crisis in The Bahamas and asked all leaders come to the Climate Summit with plans, not speeches.
