The Bahamas is vulnerable to rising sea levels and increasing volatile storms worsened by climate change, despite being responsible for less than 0.01% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis says the country needs financial help to cope.
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00:00World leaders are here in New York to meet for the United Nations General Assembly and
00:05for Climate Week. The Bahamas is one of the countries most impacted by climate change.
00:10I'm meeting with Prime Minister Philip Davis, who's going to talk to me about how the island
00:14is impacted, who's to blame and who should bear the cost.
00:20Thank you so much for joining me.
00:22It's a pleasure being here with you.
00:23I was wondering if we could start by just, maybe you can tell us a little bit about the
00:27kinds of impacts that you are seeing in the Bahamas as a result of the rising sea levels
00:32and climate changes.
00:34I think to put it all in perspective, we have to understand the geography of the Bahamas.
00:38We are what I call an ocean state, spread over 100,000 square miles of pristine, tranquil
00:43water. And as one astronaut once said, it's the most beautiful sight from space. And we
00:49think it's the most beautiful spot in the world. And we have about 700 islands, rocks
00:55and keys. The challenge is that the landmass, 80% plus of our landmass, is a mere three
01:05meters above sea level. So the rising seas, that comes along with the existential threat
01:10of climate change, threatens to swallow up all of our landmass in due course. And we
01:17are in what I call the alleyway of hurricanes. Our last hurricane was Dorian, Category 5,
01:24an American that spent about three to four days over two of our islands, Abaco and Grand
01:29Bahama. The loss and damage for that is estimated to be more than $3.4 billion. When you take
01:37that in a context of what our annual revenue might be, it is usually around $2.9 billion.
01:44The loss occasioned by that one single event would have wiped out the complete annual revenue
01:51of the country. We are not fortunate enough to be in that category of countries that could
01:57access financing either by way of concessionary loan and or by way of donor contributions,
02:06because we are determined to be a high income country. And so we excluded. So that's the
02:12cycle that we find ourselves in, where we have to borrow, adding to our national debt,
02:18which impedes progress in our development, providing the social services that's needed
02:24for my people, and the other needs of my people to uplift them, to ensure that they could
02:31fulfil their God-given potential. And so it's a devastating impact it has on our country.
02:39And the global north has to take that into context when we speak about their responsibility.
02:48Going to that straight away, I mean, the Bahamas has filed legal submissions to the
02:52International Court of Justice, calling for countries to be held account for their climate
02:57policies. I mean, which countries are you talking about when you're talking about the
03:01global north and you're talking about the oil producing countries, right? And the major
03:08manufacturing countries in which major manufacturers use this, that contributes most to the greenhouse
03:16gas emissions. We're talking about all of those corporate entities, as well as governments.
03:23Because at the end of the day, at the ICJ hearing, we had hoped that not only countries
03:29become held accountable, but also the oil producing companies are held accountable and
03:36those around the value chain that contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions.
03:42But I mean, it's not only global north countries that fall into those categories. Under the
03:46UNFCCC, China is still considered a developing country. Also, many of the big oil producing
03:53nations that you might be talking about here. Under that framework, what kind of action
03:58are you hoping to see?
03:59I don't think the argument before the ICJ is defined to the countries in the global
04:06north. It is defined to countries that are contributing most to the greenhouse gases
04:12emissions. And so whichever country, whether they're situated in the global north or the
04:17south, will be held accountable. So it's not distinguished by north or south. The
04:25distinguishing feature is, if you are contributing to greenhouse gases, you are to be held accountable
04:30for that conduct.
04:32Last year at the COP, countries agreed to transition away from fossil fuels. What do
04:38you think about the action that has been taken so far following that?
04:42Well, you know, what do I think? I think, I'll just say what we say, the jury is still
04:52out on it. The jury is still out. Because the signals that's being sent doesn't quite
05:00match with that sort of commitment. So, for example, in the U.S., a permission was granted,
05:09I'm advised, for a refinery producing 269,000 barrels of oil a day in Texas was approved
05:19about a year or so ago. In England, permission was given for the redevelopment of an oil
05:26field in the Midlands, I think, somewhere, which is said to be a large find. So the question
05:31is, you know, for whatever reasons, those permissions were granted. But I only ask,
05:39what signal does that send to the rest of us who are talking about moving towards reducing
05:46our carbon footprint by moving away from fossil fuel? Does it align with that commitment?
05:54I don't know. Perhaps they, perhaps one day will tell us what they should read from that.
06:00I mean, do you think policies like the U.S.'s Inflation Reduction Act are a good step forward, or?
06:07It's certainly a good step forward. I think that is one of the signature piece of legislation
06:17that deals specifically with climate change. And it is an act that we should hail and hold up.
06:24And hopefully, that would signal the way to a more effective response to climate change
06:32and other countries to follow. But considering, obviously, the U.S. is now
06:37in a point where they're just about to have elections, the Inflation Reduction Act, who
06:43knows, you know, whether it will stay in place as a result of those elections. Do you
06:48have any concerns, considering the U.S. is also a big neighbor of the Bahamas?
06:53Well, a concern about the elections? About the election results, I guess, and who
06:58might be? Well, from what I've said, I will accept
07:04the will of the American people. And I think the American people appreciates the issues
07:10of climate change. And if that is what they wish, I would accept it by their wish.
07:21So we're talking about, obviously, if former President Trump is made president again, then,
07:25you know, the potential to pull out of the Paris Agreement and other climate accords
07:31that are moving in that direction? Yeah, well, again, you know, it's a matter
07:36for the American people. If they vote for him and that's what he decides to do, again,
07:40I would accept that by that wish. But we as a country and others who will still be there
07:46will have just to, you know, paddle our own canoe, as it were, and be prepared to do that.
07:52I mean, coming back to the Bahamas, like, what obligations do you think that the Bahamas
07:58has to continue trying to reduce its own emissions, even though they are negligible, particularly
08:04given that, obviously, 50 percent of the GDP is coming from a sector like tourism, which
08:09also is a heavy contributor to climate change? We are taking steps to eliminate, to reduce
08:16our carbon footprint, even though it's negligible. We are moving to EVs, government vehicles
08:24are transitioning to EVs. And, of course, it is not an inexpensive exercise. And within
08:31our resources, we're doing our best to move to it. And so we have just entered into a
08:35new energy reform, a new energy era, where we're introducing cleaner energy for our generators,
08:44LNG, with a mix of solar, particularly in our family islands. Those are happening as
08:49well. And we are well on our way to doing that. And we have committed in our National
08:56Development Contributes, NDC, that we will, by 2030, reduce our emissions by 30 percent
09:04and we are well on our way to achieving that goal. We have created an emission registry
09:10to be able to track and hoping to have incentives for companies and individuals who will contribute
09:22to the lessening of our footprints. So we're taking our own steps to do so. We're also
09:31looking at additionalities in the sense we have started a coral gene bank to have restoration
09:38of some biodiversity to protect our coastal and marine life. We, of course, as I indicated,
09:45we have discovered the sea grass, which has proven to be one of the most potent sequestering
09:54assets in the world and hoping to monetize it for the purpose of protecting it and ensuring
10:04that the loss is reversed. And those are some of the things that we are taking our own steps
10:09to address these things and likewise contribute to humanity by our efforts.
10:18The COP29 later this year is supposed to center around this issue of climate financing.
10:27What would you like to see coming out of those negotiations? What would be most helpful to
10:32small island states like the Bahamas?
10:35First of all, operationalizing the loss and damage fund. There's still a lot of talk and
10:41negotiations going on. In fact, as I indicated, the loss and damage fund has been relegated
10:46to negotiations. And then providing the funding that's necessary for it, such as talking and
10:54committing and pledging, you need to make that actual.
10:58Then the other aspect I'd like to see coming out of it is a change in what I call the criteria
11:04to accessing these funds and setting up a protocol that is not full red tape where access
11:12to these funds are expeditious as opposed to dragged down in bureaucracy. And the criteria
11:21to getting those funds are such that the vulnerabilities of small island developing states are taken
11:29into account as opposed to the per capita income of small island states.
11:35Coming back to, you mentioned climate change is an existential crisis for the Bahamas.
11:42What plans are in place for your citizens as and when some of the islands disappear,
11:50for example? Is that something that you are looking at?
11:55Well, not with the urgency at this time because we feel, and I'm still optimistic, that we'll
12:03be able to reverse this challenge and that we have the ingenuity to have it reversed
12:13in time for me not to lose my islands. We just need to come together, acknowledge the
12:23issues, and invest in the research necessary to do so. We are concerned that if nothing
12:34happens, what will happen? What shook me is the news that the 1.5 degrees Celsius was,
12:46in my word, was breached for one year straight, not a day, not a week, not a month, but one
12:53complete year, the temperature was over 1.5 degrees Celsius, which was the threshold.
13:01So we're not going to meet that anymore, are we? So what's the next step? And this is what
13:07this calls the urgency of action now, is because we have passed what we had set to achieve
13:15and we need to move more swiftly to get things done.
13:20Just one last question. When you speak to the Global North nations, what is it that
13:25you will be calling for them to do?
13:27Write the cheque. As I said, promises have been made. Promises, I won't say not kept,
13:40but it still remains to be kept. And I ask them to invest more in innovation, be more
13:50mindful and sensitive to the fact that in the event they do nothing, what could likely
13:58happen to their own interest? Because if they do nothing, they could be welcoming a number
14:08of climate refugees that could displace their own norms in their countries, could have impact
14:18on their political landscape, could impact the cohesion of communities. If they do nothing,
14:30it could impact and erode their GDP. And so is that what they want? So that's part of
14:36the consequence. And so, yes, they may be driven more by what I call the profit, and
14:44they may be concerned about the cost that it might take to correct this challenge. But
14:50for me, that cost will be more costly, or put another way, inaction will be more costly
14:58than the costs that they're worried about.
15:01Thank you so much for your time.