GUYANA’S President Donald Ramotar, at the recently held 24th session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC), convened by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal, quite wisely issued a call for CARICOM states to speak with one voice at the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), scheduled for later this month in Brazil.
This position advocated by President Ramotar drew the wholehearted support of Grenada’s Minister of Youth Empowerment and Sports, Mr. Patrick Simmons, who urged the Caribbean to “unite on issues that will affect the Region as a whole.”
This support was not surprising as it is a sensible and laudable strategy since speaking with one voice would have a greater impact and would demonstrate a spirit of unity among regional member states.
But more importantly, if individual, small countries articulate their positions separately, the likelihood of it getting the nod is grim because their voices, most likely, would have been lost in the wind as the trend at international arena has been characterised by the dominance of views and positions of the big and powerful nations, while those of the smaller countries are suppressed or given less prominence and consideration.
In fact, the one-voice strategy and approach should not be only limited to the upcoming Rio Summit, but instead should be extended to all other international fora wherever it is practicable and convenient to do so.
However, at this upcoming Rio conference, the issues on its agenda are of crucial importance to countries of the Caribbean, particularly the Small Island and Developing States (SIDS), especially including climate change and pollution of the oceans.
World leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, [non-governmental organisations] and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want”, according to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).
One critical issue regarding our planet’s oceans, briefly summarised by the UNCSD Secretariat, sets forth the discussion agenda on the sustainable management and protection of oceans and marine resources.
Another agenda item is the issue of plastic pollution of our marine resources, which is also a major one for this Region as the economies of many countries depend almost entirely on their marine resources.
Therefore, the notion of the Region speaking with one voice is not an option but an imperative, because the outcome of the conference with respect to issues of our survival has to be a major priority.