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Here in Jamaica the Attorney General’s office has given the green light for Jamaica to go ahead and ratify the Paris climate agreement. A formal request will be made to Cabinet for ratification.
Ten Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines, have already ratified the agreement. The focus now is to keep the momentum going.
Now that is has been entered into force, the first meeting of the parties to the Paris Agreement referred to as the CMA is expected to be held in Marrakech to determine how to implement the rules which governs the agreement. It’s hoped that it will result in commitments to set timelines to implement the goals hammered out in Paris as well the legal obligation, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to provide 100 billion dollars to developing countries to tackle the effects of climate change.
These developed countries committed to jointly provide, by 2020, these funds to assist developing nations deal with sea level rise, cut greenhouse gas emissions, bypass fossil fuel development for cleaner alternatives and other adaptation measures. The timelines and climate financing are expected to be two of the key point in the negotiations. Questions surrounds who will pay, how much they will pay and to whom.
In Marrakesh, the key issues for Jamaica and the Caribbean are the enforcement of the Paris agreement, climate change financing, loss and damage, adaptation, capacity building and technology. As Jamaica has not yet ratified the agreement, they can attend and participate in the CMA but do not have decision making powers.
