Outcome of climate change workshop a mystery

| 03/06/2019 | 5 Comments

Cayman News Service, Rising seas, climate change(CNS): Government Information Services issued a press release Friday about a recent workshop on climate change and health. The release said public and private stakeholders plan to collaborate on a “special climate change and health chapter to go into the draft National Climate Change Policy”, but gave no indication what that is or what it means. The release noted that around 50 people from public sector agencies, the private sector and professional bodies attended the two-day session organised by the PAHO/WHO and noted some of the topics but revealed no specifics.

Pan American Health Organisation consultant Nasolo Thompson said that by 2030 the organisation envisions all small island developing states will have health systems resilient to climate change.

Countries are also expected to reduce their carbon emissions “to protect the most vulnerable from climate risks, and to deliver large-scale health benefits in carbon-emitting countries”, she said in the release, but how that will be achieved was not revealed.

Representatives did state that the health sector must also reduce its carbon footprint, including making healthcare facilities more resilient to disasters and environmentally friendly.

Avalon Porter of the National Weather Service presented on the impact of climate change on the Cayman Islands’ weather patterns. The details of that presentation were not revealed either, though general climate reports from the NWS have begun to indicate that in addition to rising temperatures, weather is becoming increasingly erratic in Cayman as it is around the world.

Officials said the workshop covered other topics, such as the impact of climate change on environmental determinants of health, building climate resilient health systems, the Action Plan on Health and Climate Change for the Caribbean, and the importance of an inter-sectoral approach to climate change. However, there was no indication what policies the current administration plans to adopt to help with those issues.

The release said that Health and Environment Minister Dwayne Seymour spoke at the event and said that rising temperatures and related catastrophes of recent years were evidence of the need for continuing the multi-sectoral action that marked the creation of the draft National Climate Change Policy.

However, Seymour is deputy chair of the committee formed by the government with the intention of gutting the conservation law. There has been no indication from the minister since he took office that he has any understanding of, or interest in, the climate crisis or the need to take drastic policy action to save the Cayman Islands from coastal erosion and the impending sea-level rise.

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Category: Science & Nature, Weather

Comments (5)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    as i said before….talking to caymanians about climate/environmental issues is an excercise in futility.

    when was the last time a caymanian politician even mentioned rising sea levels??????

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Can there by a government system where citizens vote in a minister for health & environment, education etc. instead of electing representatives for a jurisdiction?

    This way the chances of having someone with “no understanding” in a position such as minister for health & environment would be reduced if not eliminated?!

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  3. Anonymous says:

    CNS re your last sentence “There has been no indication from the minister since he took office that he has any understanding of, or interest in, the climate crisis or the need to take dramatic policy action to save the Cayman Islands from coastal erosion and impending sea-level rise.”

    You should have just ended at ” he has no understanding.”

    Minster Seymour is so out of his depth its not funny.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Cayman has no idea what’s coming. About 75 percent of the population thinks Fox News and Jesus will protect them.

    Gonna be a tough century for our three islands.

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    • Anonymous says:

      The premier is talking about need to do something to help stop climate change, same time Tourism minister is extending the Air Field in the sea to accomplish bigger jet planes. don’t we all know more/ bigger planes causes more pollution.

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