Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has highlighted the urgency of climate mitigation and adaptation and the need for climate justice after a visit to the hurricane-ravaged sister island of Grenada, Carriacou.
The PM paid a one-day visit to Grenada on Wednesday.
“Hurricane Beryl provided first-hand interaction with the victims of the ravages of Climate Change,” Pierre wrote on Facebook.
He also spoke of the ‘horror stories’ of the victims’ experiences.
The Saint Lucia Prime Minister indicated that urgent mitigation and adaptation measures and climate justice would assist in rebuilding stronger.
“My colleagues in the OECS and wider CARICOM have been amongst the first to respond to the distress calls of our sister islands and we will continue to provide support,” Pierre stated.
He thanked Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell for facilitating the visit.
In addition, Pierre thanked Prime Ministers Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica and Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis for standing in solidarity with the hurricane-affected sister isles.
Hurricane Beryl devastated 90% of all buildings – the airport, marinas, gas stations, the hospital, and homes on Grenada’s sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
Beryl also damaged homes, impacted the agriculture and forestry sectors, and disrupted electricity and water distribution in Grenada’s north.
In addition, the storm left a trail of devastation in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Beryl was the first hurricane of a predicted very active 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, prompting warnings that the worst may not be over.
After the hurricane’s devastation, the region and the international community have mobilised a massive relief aid programme to assist the affected islands.
There is no climate emergency
A global network of over 1900 scientists and professionals has prepared this urgent message. Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific. Scientists should openly address uncertainties and exaggerations in their predictions of global warming, while politicians should dispassionately count the real costs as well as the imagined benefits of their policy measures.
Natural as well as anthropogenic factors cause warming
The geological archive reveals that Earth’s climate has varied as long as the planet has existed, with natural cold and warm phases. The Little Ice Age ended as recently as 1850. Therefore, it is no surprise that we now are experiencing a period of warming.
Warming is far slower than predicted
The world has warmed significantly less than predicted by IPCC on the basis of modeled anthropogenic forcing. The gap between the real world and the modeled world tells us that we are far from understanding climate change.
Climate policy relies on inadequate models
Climate models have many shortcomings and are not remotely plausible as global policy tools. They blow up the effect of greenhouse gases such as CO2. In addition, they ignore the fact that enriching the atmosphere with CO2 is beneficial.
CO2 is plant food, the basis of all life on Earth
CO2 is not a pollutant. It is essential to all life on Earth. Photosynthesis is a blessing. More CO2 is beneficial for nature, greening the Earth: additional CO2 in the air has promoted growth in global plant biomass. It is also good for agriculture, increasing the yields of crops worldwide.
Global warming has not increased natural disasters
There is no statistical evidence that global warming is intensifying hurricanes, floods, droughts and suchlike natural disasters, or making them more frequent. However, there is ample evidence that CO2-mitigation measures are as damaging as they are costly.
Climate policy must respect scientific and economic realities