Grenada: increased urgency for small islands as climate worsens

Dessima Williams (August 2010)

Where: Bonn 2010: 13th AWG KP & 11th AWG LCA

Grenada's Ambassador for Climate Change, Dessima Williams, considers how we are now in the countdown to Cancun. She notes how we are in a "period of increased urgency" particularly as the situation has worsened, referring to the floods in Pakistan, the fires in Russia and Greece, and the hurricane season for the islands. She says there is good will, but that we are behind despite it being better than last year. She brings us up to date with the calls for financing, adaptation and institutional arrangements and explains although mitigation targets are well below what is needed, some countries will say that "they can't do more". She considers the structure, process and content of the negotiations and explores Grenada's wide adaptation needs and how the negotiations don't currently reflect this. She finishes on reminding us about the huge amount of resources invested in the talks, with little result so far.