PM calls for international climate financing commitments to be fulfilled

Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d), the Honourable Mark Phillips on May 18, 2023 called for international commitments on climate financing to be fulfilled to address disaster risk reduction and resilience building.

The Senior Government Official made the call during a High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Midterm Review of the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (HLM) in New York.

Prime Minister Phillips emphasised that the meeting is taking place at a critical time for Latin America and the Caribbean, noting that it is the second most disaster-prone region in the world.

Climate change, he noted, is exacerbating the impacts of natural hazards, with rising sea levels and more frequent and intense weather events. To this end, he called for international financing commitments to be fulfilled, including the US$100b promised to developing countries to address the impacts of climate change.

The Prime Minister re - iterated the importance of increased international cooperation and support to reduce vulnerability to disasters. This includes going beyond GDP in determining access to concessional financing, which is critical for overall development, including resilience building.

He underscored Guyana’s call for the early completion of the United Nations Multidimensional Vulnerability Index and the speedy establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund, which will be critical for objectively determining vulnerability and resilience and the provision of resources to those most vulnerable and impacted by the effects of climate change.

In highlighting efforts being made to implement the Sendai Framework, the Prime Minister spoke about Guyana’s policies to build resilience against disaster risk that forms part of Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030.

He also highlighted the importance of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) to further enhance advanced disaster risk management and resilience across the region.

In attendance at the High-Level Meeting are several CARICOM Ministers, who met in a CARICOM breakfast strategic meeting to discuss among other things, the region’s main positions and messages. The meeting was coordinated by the Permanent Mission of Barbados in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

Eight of these recommendations were highlighted as priority, and so far, two of these have been fully implemented, through provisions contained in the Representation of the People (Amendment) Act 2022. More than three years after the elections, the union deployed an election follow-up mission to assess the progress of the implementation of the recommendations outlined in the final report.

The mission hosted a press conference at the Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday

(May 24, 2023), which comprised Chief of Mission and Member of the European Parliament, Javier Nart, and his team.

Noting that the tabling of the Data Protection Bill of 2023 marks a commendable step towards adopting data protection, Matus said several other recommendations have seen implementation.

“There are two priority recommendations that have been implemented in full. One deals with clear tabulation; written procedures are implemented. That has been taken care of by one of the provisions in the Representation of the People Amendment Act. There are now clear written procedures on how to tabulate the results of the elections from step one to the final announcement,” he said.

The Act also requires that the Statements of Poll (SoPs), among other certified forms be distributed to the Chief Election Officer, and the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) while imposing on the returning officer, the responsibility of posting an electronic copy of the SoP on the commission’s website to be publicly viewed. This directly addresses the second priority recommendation, which called for increased transparency in the results process.

Additionally, the National Registration (Amendment) Act provides for continuous registration to be done by the GECOM, addressing a recommendation to increase the continuous voter registration aspect. It also attaches stricter penalties for breaches in its provisions and provides for additional offenses related to identification cards.

The mission has met a wide range of Guyanese electoral stakeholders, including members of the government, and GECOM, and has facilitated a roundtable discussion with stakeholders on the current status of electoral reform.

The mission will publish a final report, which will offer a detailed analysis of the existing arrangements for elections in Guyana, as well as of the extent to which the EU mission recommendations have been addressed.