| The
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has issued a call for
greater economic and political support to help small
countries build their capacity to overcome the economic,
social and environmental threats they face because of
their size, location and the external conditions. The
case was made unequivocally when the Secretary-General
of CARICOM, His Excellency Edwin Carrington delivered
a statement to the United Nations International Meeting
to Review the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) for
the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States (SIDS), which ended in Mauritius on Friday, January
14. Among
the recommendations Mr. Carrington proposed as outcomes
of the Mauritius Meeting was a commitment by the international
community to confront the underlying causes of climate
change and sea-level rise; policy and operational
changes to ensure that multilateral trade policy enable
strong growth in SIDS; and the provision of the resources
needed to implement the agreed development measures.
He made a call at the High Level Segment of the Meeting
on Friday for exemptions for small countries from
the onerous obligations of some international agreements
or, alternatively, for the provision of resources
to facilitate the meeting of those obligations with
development aid focusing on youth and women, as part
of a broader human resource development strategy.
“Continued
commitment of the SIDS political leadership, and the
full engagement of their populations in this global
campaign for their sustainable development and thus
their very future as well as that of the entire international
community, is indispensable if we are to come to grips
with breaking the stranglehold of the development
constraints faced by SIDS,” the Secretary-General
noted.
These
actions, he pointed out, were required urgently against
the background of evidence that the economic, environmental
and social conditions and resilience of SIDS in the
Caribbean and elsewhere have weakened in the 1990s.
Intensified competition from global trade liberalisation,
deteriorating market access conditions and adverse
movements in the commodity terms of trade, he said,
have led to significantly weakened export capacity,
rising trade deficits, and increased economic vulnerability
in the Region. He pointed out that while CARICOM,
up to the mid 1980s was a net food-exporting Region,
it is now a net food importer.
The
Secretary-General revealed: “For CARICOM SIDS,
for example, the unit value of 7 of their 11 most
important exports fell between 1995 and 2000: For
5 of these exports, the decline was by more than 25
per cent. The trade deficit increased from US$1.2
billion in 1994 to US$3.4 billion in 2001.”
He noted that this was in keeping with a general trend
among SIDS, which up to 15 years ago, were self reliant
in food but today face a food security problem leaving
more than half of them either as net food importers
or as low income food deficit countries.
On
the social side, the CARICOM official said vulnerability
in the Caribbean has also increased due to persistent
poverty, increasing health threats such as HIV/AIDS,
the loss of trained and experienced professionals
to developed countries, drug trafficking and use,
and crime exacerbated by some developed countries
deporting to the Region hardened criminals, many of
whom have very little links to the Caribbean.
In
the area of the environment, he noted that climate
change has been evidenced by more intense droughts
and frequent and stronger hurricanes, which have impacted
virtually every Caribbean State. He highlighted the
case of Grenada, where he pointed out that the destruction
was ”near total.”
Noting
that despite adverse conditions, the Region mainly
through its own efforts, has registered significant
progress, Mr. Carrington said most SIDS in the Caribbean
have resolved to pursue their development and the
implementation of the BPoA through intensified regional
cooperation and integration as seen, for example,
through the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME)
and the establishment of new Regional institutions
dealing with climate change, and fisheries.
Culture,
the Secretary-General added, was critical in the sustainable
development equation for small states. He observed:
“Caribbean SIDS also recognize the role of culture
and cultural industries in development, and the potential
of culture to build resilience in the face of certain
dramatic changes and powerful intrusions of the global
society. The forging of greater partnerships –
among Caribbean peoples at home and in the Diaspora
– as well as alliances with the rest of the
world is important in enhancing that resilience. We
therefore support the call in this meeting, for a
greater role for culture in sustainable development
strategies and for the strengthening of the international
system to assist SIDS in the preservation of their
cultural heritage and the development of their cultural
industries.” |