Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has called for the reform of the international financial system and the creation of a $5 trillion Climate Trust to pay for the mitigation of climate change anywhere in the world.
Mottley was delivering the Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Durban, speaking about what developing countries in the Global South should do in the face of the climate crisis. This comes as the United Nations’ COP27 climate summit is under way in Egypt.
Durban was chosen to host the lecture as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of the devastating floods earlier this year.
Barbados’ Prime Minister says climate change has already happened. She says the world is facing a climate crisis, with warnings from COP27 that Earth is on a path where some parts of the globe will become uninhabitable, giving rise to climate refugees.
Mottley adds that countries have to deal with multiple crises at the same time like COVID-19, and what she calls the “cancer of inflation”.
Mottley says the international financial system is still skewed along colonial lines and needs to be reformed. She proposes the establishment of a 5 trillion dollar Climate Trust to which any country can apply to fund projects to mitigate climate change.
Mottley says they needs to be a change in peoples attitudes and behavior towards climate change #sabcnews #NelsonMandelaLecture pic.twitter.com/VWsbvsT5Pl
— MaMthiyane (@skhangiwem) November 12, 2022
“We aren’t asking that the money should come to us. We are saying do it wherever. But what must happen is that you must do it and regrettably. What we are still getting is the stand-off. It comestibles because mankind is so consumed with the geopolitics of today’s world that we are forgetting the reality of the planet on which we live. It’s sad because at the end of the day, time waits on no one and the climate equally is not waiting on anyone to minimise its impact on our living on our way of life,” says Mottley.
Mottley is calling on governments of developing countries to call with one voice for the changes that are needed. However, she also says that everyone – from big corporations to philanthropists and ordinary people can make a difference.
This is the first physical Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture since the COVID-19 global pandemic. #NelsonMandelaLecture #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/DfLLqQ1oPQ
— MaMthiyane (@skhangiwem) November 12, 2022
She says this can be done by walking more and driving less, saving water and planting your own vegetables.
“The world that we have come to know has changed upon us. And we will either decide as people of the South to be firm craftsmen of our fate and shapers of our destiny, or we will continue to be the victims as we have been for centuries,” adds Mottley.
Mottley has acknowledged that the scale of disasters is beyond the resources governments have to provide shelter to those who have, for example, lost their homes in floods such as KwaZulu-Natal experienced. She says different solutions are needed in response to disasters.
“But the scale of the damage is in excess of what exists. And unless you are going to get new ways of prefabricating houses it will always take time once shelter has been lost. So it is a difficult issue for countries to manage and regrettably it going to become more and more complex. But I think we are also going to have to look at prefabricated types of houses,” explains Mottley.
Clapping her hands in a call to action, the widow of former President Nelson Mandela Graca Machel thanked Mottley for her message.
“Hello, Africa! Hello, Global South. It’s time for Global South to lead. Hello! The North and South, it;s time to listen. And hello human family, we only have one planet. We don’t have two. And we have the ability to save it. And we were told how to do it. Yes,” says Machel.
After the event, Mottley was introduced to a boy Romario Valentine from Durban who wrote a book about climate change with eco-projects and green tips.
Mottley promises to put him in contact with a schoolgirl in Barbados who is also an environmental activist so that together they can change the world.
The 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture delivered by Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley will take place in Durban today #NelsonMandelaLecture #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/RgDfKcBhka
— MaMthiyane (@skhangiwem) November 12, 2022
