Task force formed by Grenada to pursue climate justice post-Beryl
Grenada is establishing a task force aimed at advocating for itself and other vulnerable states to receive compensation for damage caused by natural disasters attributed to climate change.
Last evening, Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell revealed the government held an emergency meeting following the passage of Hurricane Beryl where they agreed to have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Environment, Climate Resilience, and Renewable Energy work together to demand climate justice.
“We are no longer prepared to accept that it is okay for us to constantly suffer significant, clearly demonstrated loss and damage arising from climatic events and be expected to rebuild, be expected to borrow to rebuild year after year while the countries that are responsible for creating the situation and exacerbating the situation sit idly by with platitudes and tokenism. Grenada’s economy, Grenada’s environment, both physically built and natural, have taken an enormous hit from this hurricane,” Mitchell said.
“It has put the people of Carriacou and Petite Martinique light years behind and they are required to pull themselves up by the bootstrap on their own. This is not right, it is not fair, it is not just. And so we will create a task force to champion this issue, to find the appropriate partners to continue championing this issue with, both within CARICOM, within the small island developing states space and within the larger international community, including the United Nations.
He continued: “Grenada is but one example of several Caribbean countries. Year in, year out, which suffers this fate with no significant financial resources being made available to us to rebuild after we continue to suffer this type of enormous loss and damage.
Hurricane Beryl struck Grenada, Carriacou, Petite Martinique and St Vincent and the Grenadines as a strong category four hurricane on Monday.
The storm damaged over 90 per cent of homes on the islands of Carriacou, Petite Martinique, Union Island, Canouan and Mayreau.
At least six people were also killed during the passage of Beryl.
