By Shenia Roberts
Journal Staff Writer

Prime Minister Phillip Davis joined over 50,000 people in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29 th session
of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties known as COP29 where he
gave contributions on behalf of The Bahamas.
According to the United Nations, this gathering, the second largest of its kind, under the theme:
investing in a liveable planet for all is set to create new climate financial goals globally. Additionally,
it aims to ensure every country has the means to take much stronger climate action, slash greenhouse
gas emissions and build resilient communities. 
The prime minister also made remarks at a Summit for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), he
emphasized that small island nations like The Bahamas deserve a fair chance at a sustainable long-
lasting environment. He said “our people have a right to survival. They have a right to pass down to
future generations a world better than the one they inherited. And yet, this most basic right—this right
to life, to hope, to continuity—hangs by a thread.” He explained that the effects of pollution from
larger countries are directly affecting climate change and consequently our means of life.
Moreover, he highlighted the many natural disasters we have faced globally for the year noting that
these occurrences have become more and more common. He expressed that despite this a lot of people
still see this as a nothing significant. However, he said “these are not mere coincidences of nature;
they are warnings, the earth’s way of showing us the high cost of inaction. Every storm, every fire,
every flood cries out that time is running out, and yet some choose to look the other way. The
catastrophes are not the product of fate, but of choices.”
Prime Minister Davis said the solutions to such issues were not difficult but may present an
inconvenience to some. He noted that some form of relief and assistance must be discussed to aid
small countries directly affected by the affects of global warming. Davis said “the next round of
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2025 is a moment that cannot be wasted.
Current commitments are insufficient to keep us within a 1.5°C future; they will instead lead us
to a world well beyond 2°C—a world in which SIDS may no longer exist.” He emphasized that
if more is not allocated for relief and recovery efforts the effects will be catastrophic as time
progresses.
Additionally, he noted the expenses SIDS must incur because of such pollution highlighting that
“SIDS have spent 18 times more in debt repayments than they have received in climate finance.”
He went on further to say that “Justice demands that the polluter should pay, not those who bear
the burden of the pollution!”

He emphasized that the process of receiving the assistance from major polluters should be made
easier and expressed “the Loss and Damage Fund must become a tool of immediate relief, not a
maze of red tape.”
As he concluded his contribution Prime Minister Davis said that all leaders and nations were
faced with a choice to either act with boldness and unity or to let fear and inertia decide the
world’s fate. Additionally, he emphasized that “we do not seek favours; we seek fairness. If we
are to bear the consequences of a crisis we did not cause, then at least at least we must have the
support necessary to face it.”