Thank you for that kind introduction, Minister Miller.
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening,
I begin by thanking the Partnership Initiative for Sustainable Land Management, headed by Mr. Calvin James, for collaborating with the Government of The Bahamas to arrange this important forum.
It is indeed a pleasure to welcome you all to this UNCCD Pre-COP 16 meeting here in Nassau.
Tonight, we convene as Caribbean brothers and sisters, as political leaders and environmental champions, to make good on our commitments as stewards of this Earth.
In a region with so many islands and so much ocean and sea, the land beneath our feet doesn’t always get the attention it deserves.
But land has always been significant in the Caribbean.
It was from the soil that indigenous tribes harvested life-sustaining cassava, that sugar and cotton were painfully reaped to power the world economy, and that still today, food and mineral commodities are harvested to sustain communities across the region.
Increasingly, however, the changing climate coupled with non-sustainable and destructive human activity threatens to further degrade our lands – at a great economic, social, and environmental cost.
It is more crucial than ever that we ramp up efforts to promote sustainable land management at home and abroad.
The needs of our people may be dynamic and complex, but sustainability is a simple and lasting truth.
The world is experiencing a triple planetary crisis. Addressing climate change, protecting biodiversity and nurturing ecological restoration of our land has become an urgent priority for us all. The biggest threat to the security of the world is environmental destruction. These threats move the Commonwealth of Nation members through a call to action on a living lands charter.
The living land’s chartakes a system wide approach t0ward implementing the 5 thematic action areas:
climate resilient agriculture
Climate resilience. Primate Brazilian agricultural food, security, soil and water.
Sustainable greek sustainable green and biodiversity carbon neutral and climate resilient livesto
We cannot continue to recklessly clear land or extract resources, turn a blind eye to unplanned urbanisation, or promote harmful farming practices that undermine, rather than improve, our food security.
Not when 30% of degraded land in small island developing states (SIDS) worldwide can be found in the Caribbean region.
And certainly not in light of the recent passage of Hurricane Beryl, which laid bare how worsening storms and land degradation can easily form a dangerous feedback loop.
Taking better care of our land resources is vital to our collective health and to our common flourishing and prosperity.
Colleagues, the quality of life we enjoy tomorrow, will depend on the decisions we make today.
So, let us unite for our lands.
Let us protect and replenish the earth beneath our feet.
Doing so will have significant payoffs in the short and long term.
Healthy lands mitigate climate change, contribute to our economies, and support human health, nutrition, and general wellbeing.
Proper land preservation also goes hand in hand with combating the rising incidence of drought and desertification in our region.
Water scarcity is a pressing concern for the Caribbean, with most – if not all – of our island nations experiencing some form of water stress in the last five years.
Meanwhile, three quarters of the Caribbean’s population resides in urban areas – and that number only stands to rise.
Urbanisation is our reality, my friends, and it will continue to place a strain on water access.
Conservation of essential resources will be key as we advance regional development and work toward achieving the seventeen SDGs.
In this common mission, it will be important to harmonise our policies and unify our voices.
We face similar struggles, and so we stand to benefit tremendously from coordinating policies, sharing knowledge, and speaking with one voice on the world stage.
When we go to Riyadh, let us go with our hearts and minds in harmony, committed to the noble cause of Caribbean wellbeing.
Let us move the needle on the issues that matter most, my friends.
Let us unite for land – our lands – which have already withstood so much.
I look forward to seeing the progress we will achieve together at COP 16.
May God bless this region, and all our efforts to protect it.
Thank you, and I wish us all a productive meeting.