Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas address on the occasion of the meeting of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) in Grenada. The meeting was declared official opened by Prime Minister Thomas this morning at the Trade Center. ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 22st, 2009_ Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning. It is indeed a great pleasure to have you here in the Spice Island of Grenada. You have journeyed from a diverse range of islands to be here, some from as far as the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. A few of you have been travelling since the weekend to get here, but I can assure you that you will find the hospitality and ambience here in Grenada well worth the effort. I know that you have a packed agenda, but I hope that you will find the time to sample the flavor of our island – the beautiful scenery, the tasty cuisine, the cultural activities and the friendly people. You will quickly discover that we are indeed a spicy paradise – in many different respects. And this takes me directly to our meeting here this week … for the survival of this beautiful ambience, here in Grenada and in all of our respective islands and homelands, is the reason why we are here … because if we do not take serious action to combat climate change, these characteristics that we cherish and boast about, could be easily lost forever. I will not spend time talking about the science of climate change and the need for urgent action. That is a well established fact. What I want to talk about today is your role in the international negotiations and the challenge that we have before us if we are to seal the deal in Copenhagen and ensure that no island is left behind. Let me begin by complimenting you on the excellent work that you have been doing on behalf of our islands and people. You have been the ones carrying the torch during these negotiations and you have done a very good technical job in ensuring that the interests of our island states are well represented in the negotiating text that is now on the table. You have worked diligently to ensure that our interests are protected and you have demonstrated that you have the capacity to negotiate fearlessly for the survival of our small island states. As Chairman of AOSIS, I want to express my gratitude and the gratitude of my fellow political leaders to all of you for these efforts. I want you to know that we are aware that the responsibility that you carry is a very heavy one. In many respects, the future of our countries is in your hands … for such is the importance of the outcomes that we seek at Copenhagen in December. It is therefore important that we strive to ensure that the outcomes that we achieve at Copenhagen address the specific needs of small island states and other vulnerable countries. For example; · We have to ensure that the mitigation reduction targets are sufficiently ambitious to prevent sea level rise from causing some of us to move from our communities and even our homelands; · We have to ensure that the adaptation framework that we develop will provide us with the means to strengthen our resilience to the impacts of climate change and minimise the damage that it brings to our communities; · We have to ensure that the financial and technical supports that are agreed to in Copenhagen are sufficient to respond to the scale of the problem and will be available to countries that need it on an expedited basis; · In short, we have to ensure that the deal that we seal in Copenhagen, will ensure the survival and development of every small island state … in fact, we have been saying in various international fora, that the survival of every small island state should be the benchmark against which we measure the outcomes that we agree to at Copenhagen. To get these results at Copenhagen, there is still much that we need to do, and I want to suggest to you that you should use this meeting to address some of these. I also want to suggest what I see as six (6) priorities that you need to address at this meeting: 1. We have to develop a clear technical understanding of the proposals on the table and the underlying implications of each issue. Many of the issues that have been proposed are complex, and some of them are breaking new ground. There is the danger that if we are not careful, we may find ourselves agreeing to things that we do not fully understand. I want to suggest that you make the time to ensure that you fully understand all the issues – and to let us know when you do not. If it becomes necessary to source additional technical support to assist in that regard, then let us know so that we can ensure that the support is available. 2. We have to agree on clear AOSIS positions on the issues. We have to ensure that the positions that we advance are unambiguous … that all Parties will have the same interpretation of the positions that we advance and that these interpretations are consistent with what we want to say. 3. We have recognized national priorities while developing unified AOSIS positions on the key issues. This is important, as with 43 countries from multiple regions in our alliance, it is obvious that there will be different national interests to accommodate. What we have to do is to find a way that will allow countries to achieve their national goals, while at the same time, ensuring that we do not compromise the overall environmental integrity of the Copenhagen outcomes. 4. We need to spend more time engaging with other partners. The Copenhagen outcomes have to be agreed by all. We therefore have to spend much more time explaining our positions to other parties, listening to proposals, indentifying areas of convergence and building strategic alliances with like-minded Parties. In short, ladies and gentlemen, networking will be the key as we move forward to Copenhagen. In this regard, we also have to also identify those Parties whose positions will harm us and develop ways to neutralize their influence. 5. We have to spread our message to a wider audience. We also have to take our message outside of the negotiating room and engage a wider international audience. We should not underestimate the power of international public opinion. We have to convince the world that the negative impacts that we are talking about are real and that the solutions that we propose are realistic and feasible. Just recently, for example, we have seen the declaration by the G8 agreeing to strive to stabilize global temperature increases at 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. International public opinion is now beginning to see this two degree level as a safe level, while in fact, it will mean significant damage to many of our island states. We therefore have to get the message out that we need to get to 1.5 to stay alive – that is, that Copenhagen has to agree to limit global temperature increases to well below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, if island states are to survive. 6. And finally, we have to strengthen the linkages between the political and the technical levels. For whether we like it or not, the final negotiations at Copenhagen will be a political negotiation. We recognize however that this will have to be guided by the science and by what is technically possible. It is therefore important that the political representatives who will make the decisions at Copenhagen are adequately prepared for the historic task before them. We therefore should devote some time here to plan how we are going to get this important task done. I also want to remind you that there are many forces working to prevent Copenhagen from being a success. In the United States, for example, there has been a significant increase in financing of strategies and campaigns by corporations supporting lobbying efforts to confuse the public on the climatic evidence, since the United States Government has re-entered the negotiating process. There is therefore still a great deal of work to be done and as we move forward on the countdown to Copenhagen, it is important that we remain vigilant and focused. Ladies and Gentlemen, we cannot rest until we ensure that the children in the islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans feel secure in the knowledge that we have GUARANTEED their future, their culture, their livelihoods and their patrimony. I thank you.