We are no longer prepared to accept that it is OK for us to constantly suffer significant clear, demonstrated loss and damage arising from climatic events and be expected to borrow to rebuild year after year while the countries that are responsible for creating (and) exacerbating the situation sit idly with platitudes and tokenism.
Those were the words of Prime Minister and Minister for Disaster Management Dickon Mitchell as he re-emphasised the unfairness for small island developing states like Grenada, Carriacou, and Petite Martinique struggling to rebuild after bearing the brunt of the climate crisis at a press conference in St. George’s in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl.
The Category 4 hurricane, the first to make landfall in the 2024 Atlantic season, left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean especially in Carriacou & Petite Martinique and several islands in the Grenadines on July 1.
Hurricane Beryl was unusually early in the season and its formation and rapid intensification highlighted the increasing impact of climate change.
Experts note that such powerful storms typically develop later in the season, but global warming has led to higher sea temperatures, causing more evaporation and fueling stronger hurricanes with higher wind speeds.
Beryl intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane in just 48 hours, the fastest recorded intensification before September, the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Highlighting the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl, Prime Minister Mitchell noted loss in the region of millions of dollars, particularly in the northern parts of mainland Grenada and the near-total destruction of housing stock and infrastructure on the sister isles of Carriacou and Petite Martinique.
In response to the disaster, the government has declared the rural parish of St. Patrick, along with the sister islands as disaster zones to unlock necessary funding.
“If we did not declare Carriacou and Petite Martinique, and the northern parts of the island to be not just a disaster, but a catastrophic disaster, we would not be able to, if we so desire, suspend the Fiscal Resilience Act (FRA), because it will actually curtail the government’s ability to actually spend to do the relief and recovery actions,” PM Mitchell explained.
Additionally, he said the government is currently assessing whether it would need to suspend the operation of the FRA, which provides for an escape clause, where certain sections can be suspended in the events of a national emergency.
The Prime Minister has also highlighted challenges of accessing funding from international donors and lending agencies, noting that “just the clean-up alone is going to run into hundreds of millions of dollars.”
One of the primary challenges is the time it takes to verify data collected and submitted to lending and donor agencies before financing is approved.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell called for greater “alacrity in the situation,” emphasising the need for standby teams to respond to data assessment needs promptly.
“Given that it is just the start of the hurricane season (it is important) that in fact, they have these teams on standby to be able to respond to our data assessment needs,” he added.
The Ministry of Finance was expected to meet this week with international and regional partners including the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to chart the way forward.
The Grenadian leader also announced the formation of a task force by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Environment, Climate Resilience, and Renewable Energy “to bring it to the international community’s attention to recognise that we demand and deserve climate justice.”
Following Hurricane Beryl, PM Dickon Mitchell who is the incoming Chairman of The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) convened a virtual meeting with Heads of Government, where they established a regional sub-committee led by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
He said the first order of business “is to engage multi-lateral financial institutions to address how we are going to finance the recovery, relief, and cleanup efforts and the various tools available at our disposal as well as the approach that we will take on this issue.”
The passage of Hurricane Beryl has led to the postponement of the 47th CARICOM Heads of Government meeting, initially scheduled for Radisson Beach resort in Grand Anse, St. George on July 3-5.
Prime Minister Mitchell told reporters on Tuesday that plans are underway for Grenada to host the meeting before the end of July, where crucial steps to address climate justice for small island developing states will be outlined.
According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), climate justice entails that countries, industries, businesses, and individuals who have profited from high greenhouse gas emissions bear responsibility for assisting those most affected by climate change.
This often includes the most vulnerable countries and communities which have contributed the least to the crisis.