Guyana : CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington has cautioned members of the CARICOM Budget Committee to pay keen attention to the issues and effects of climate change and development.

Secretary-General Carrington admitted that in the initial stages, he too was a bit skeptical about this phenomenon called climate change but having got all the alarming facts, he was now an ardent convert and a strong advocate for mitigation and adaptation measures to counter the effects of climate change.

In this context Secretary-General Carrington appealed to the Committee not to take the budgetary issues related to climate change lightly and hastened to point out that if the present generation did not live to feel the full effects of this threatening phenomenon “our children are most vulnerable and will feel the full effects.”

The CARICOM Secretary-General’s interjections came against the background of a presentation of the work programme for the Directorate of Human and Social Development (HSD) under which sustainable development including the environment and climate change falls.

Director of Sustainable Development, Mr. Garfield Barnwell who was making the presentation endorsed the observations of the Secretary-General noting that the effects of climate change on small island developing lowing lying states were ‘horrifying and frightening.’ He advised the Meeting to “listen to what the scientists have to say and make the financing of mitigation and adaptation a priority within the budget.

Director-General of the Office of Trade Negotiations Ambassador Gail Mathurin added that her office was engaged in research to examine the trade related aspects of climate change in light of the need to protect the environment and the Region’s investments, particularly from those who would exploit the climate change issues to advance their own agenda.

The Thirteenth Budget Committee Meeting took place yesterday at the CARICOM Secretariat headquarters to review the Secretariat’s programme and outputs for the year 2009 and to discuss the programmes and budget for the year 2010.