(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington has pointed to the need for enhanced relations between CARICOM and the United Kingdom (UK) to confront the challenges posed to the Region’s development by climate change.

At the ceremony for the presentation of Credentials by His Excellency Fraser Wheeler, Plenipotentiary Representative of the UK to CARICOM, on Friday January 23, 2009 at the headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana, Secretary-General Carrington stated that climate change “was not a future fear, but a current yearly incremental crisis- an attack on our development - one we cannot confront alone.”

In highlighting the link between climate change and the economic development of the Region, Secretary-General Carrington cited the decisions of nations like the UK, in regard to the phenomenon, and the Caribbean’s mainstay industry, tourism.

Particularly, he stated, the decision made by European countries to impose incremental taxes on airline tickets for long destinations, including the Caribbean, to offset the cost of adapting to climate change caused by carbon emission by those countries, meant that “the Caribbean like Peter is not just paying for Paul but for all.”

Such charges, Secretary-General Carrington said, would have implications for the Region’s tourism sector and ultimately its employment and development.

He said too that the Stern Report, commissioned by the British Government to analyse the economic impact of climate change on the Region, had alarmed the small islands and low lying coastal countries of CARICOM, more so than it may have raised concerns in the UK.

In response, UK Representative Wheeler noted that tackling climate change was a critical factor in sustainable development. He conceded that the phenomenon posed “real threat” to small islands and low-lying coastal areas in the Caribbean.

He added that climate change adaptation was a ‘well known priority” of the British government and it was willing to work with the Region to “pull together efforts and expertise, and work with and influence others.”

“We have been working hard, and will continue to partner with you to tackle the effects of this phenomenon… We need to have a joint voice on this issue globally,” High Commissioner Wheeler stated.

He lauded the work of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre for its “excellent efforts” in coordinating strategies to build the Region’s resilience to a changing climate.

Mr Wheeler also commended the proposal of Government of Guyana, to preserve the country’s tropical rainforest for carbon credits. He said the British government was working with President Bharat Jagdeo to work out the economic rationale of this proposal. In addition he said that his government had been funding research to find out how countries like Guyana could benefit from forest preservation.