Earth Today | Civil society delivers 30 priorities for accelerating climate action

Civil society actors in Trinidad and Tobago are urging accelerated action on climate change for sustainable development and COVID-19 recovery, with 30 priorities delivered as part of the newly launched report, Spotlight on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 Climate Action.

The Trinidad and Tobago Civil Society Report, which highlights inadequate progress and the critical need for ramping up efforts to address climate change, was released on June 15, at a virtual launch event hosted by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI).

Developed with inputs from 53 civil society organisations (CSOs) working across the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and in diverse sectors, the report comes as the Trinidad and Tobago Government prepares to present its Voluntary National Review (VNR) on progress in implementing the SDGs at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development next month.

CANARI technical officer and coordinator for the report, Candice Ramkissoon, noted the VNR was viewed as “an opportunity to develop a civil society report to ensure civil society perspectives are captured and our voices included”.

“While the Government is reporting on a number of other SDGs in addition to SDG 13, climate change is a cross-cutting sustainable development issue which warrants increased attention and urgent integrated action across sectors to address,” she added.

This is especially important given the vulnerability associated with Trinidad and Tobago’s status as a small island developing state, as others in the Caribbean.

CANARI and the SDGs Catalysts Network mobilised CSOs to develop the report, with financial support of the European Union and the Green Climate Fund. Participating CSOs engaged in cross-cutting analysis of climate change in five key thematic areas: gender & equality; sustainable cities & communities; energy & responsible consumption & production; biodiversity; and health, water & food security.

The result was a scorecard of 30 priorities to accelerate climate action, including a ranking of the level of progress in achieving them, as assessed by civil society.

INCREASED FOCUS

Key recommendations from the CSOs’ analysis include the need for improving coordinated climate action and mechanisms for engaging civil society; updating the Climate Change Policy (2011); reformation of the Green Fund to improve access to climate financing; placing increased focus on local adaptive capacity, especially of the poor and most vulnerable groups; and updating the national development monitoring framework to take into account and effectively track progress on SDG 13 across sectors.

CANARI’s executive director, Nicole Leotaud, said the report takes on even greater importance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with the potential to contribute to a push to put climate responses at the heart of recovery – so that there is a clean, green and just recovery and approach to building resilience in Trinidad and Tobago.

In noting linkages and common lessons offered by the current pandemic and worsening climate crisis, she noted that we must not be so eager “to jump out of the COVID-19 frying pan into the climate change fire”.