Public participation vital to dealing with climate change, Seychelles says

No government, however big, rich or powerful, can take on disaster management on its own, a key speaker told a conference on climate change in Mahé, Seychelles.

Ronny Jumeau, the Seychelles' Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, urged governments and civil society to work together to address disaster relief and climate change at the four-day event, which was convened by the Commonwealth Foundation and the Government of Seychelles.

"Communities at the grassroots bear the brunt of natural disasters and the changes brought about by climate change. However, we suffer from an unhealthy overdependence on governments to solve everyone's problems," he said at the conference named 'Preparing for Change: Adaptive Strategies for Climate Change and Disaster Management in the Commonwealth.'

"Governments are expected to hold back the rising and encroaching sea, to save receding coastlines, collapsing hillsides and endangered coral reefs, and to take on the high costs of adapting to changes in our rainy and dry seasons all on its own. But as one unforgettable storm, Hurricane Katrina, showed, no government, however big, rich or powerful, can take on disaster management on its own," Mr Jumeau added.

During the conference, the relevance of climate change issues for the Commonwealth was highlighted.

"No fewer than 24 of the Commonwealth's 53 members are small island developing states. Also, 32 are small states and all but six have low-lying coastal areas," Mr Jumeau said.

Dr Mark Collins, Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, added the fight against climate change cannot be fought by rich and large countries alone.

"Almost all Commonwealth countries have agreed to targets set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to reduce carbon emissions and prevent climate change," Dr Collins said.

"We hope they will achieve those targets. But it cannot be for the rich and large countries alone to tackle the problem and its impacts. The effects are global and climate change will affect every part of our planet. No one can stand by and do nothing."

Participants at the event -- organised between 9 and 12 October 2006 -- discussed climate change and disaster management strategies that can be implemented at a grassroots level.

The outcomes of the conference will feed into the Second International Workshop on Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change to be held in Bangladesh in January 2007. The ideas will ultimately be built into a plan of action and submitted at the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda for endorsement.

The Commonwealth Foundation is an intergovernmental organisation founded by Commonwealth governments in 1965.

Key Links:

• Environment
• Combating impact of climate change in the Commonwealth critical
• Seychelles Country Profile

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