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Caribbean says no to 'one-size-fits-all' agri strategy - News - JamaicaObserver.comSANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) When it comes to dealing with the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector, Caribbean countries are letting it be known that the "one-size-fits-all" strategy is not for them.
In fact, as they emerged from a closed door meeting with the director general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Dr José Graziano da Silva last Thursday, representatives of the Caribbean delegations said that was the message conveyed to the head of the United Nations body.
"We have requested the FAO to deal with the Caribbean in a differentiated manner rather than lump us together with Latin America and the Caribbean," Guyana's Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
"Whenever that happens we get pushed aside as small states and we believe that (as) small vulnerable states our special vulnerability to climate change should be taken into consideration," he added.
And as they made their way back to their respective countries on Friday, the Caribbean delegations remain convinced that "we have put forward a very strong position with respect to climate change...and the response was very positive from the director general because we all agree that climate change is going to play a very significant part in how we look at what we would call the new agriculture".
St Vincent and the Grenadines National Mobilisation and Social Development Minister Frederick Stephenson said that the region had proposed that there be more studies regarding the impact of climate change on the Caribbean as well as "proposing the implementation of more projects geared towards mitigation of the effects of climate change on our region".
The FAO head was told by the Caribbean delegations that the region was experiencing heavy rains as well as long dry spells, a combination that is having a great impact on the agricultural sector.
Ashton Stanley, a senior government official in St Kitts-Nevis said that without adequate forage for animal production and adequate water for crop production, agriculture in the true sense is being minimised.
...n addition, he said in Caribbean countries, including his own, "we are noticing that the seas are encroaching on our land space due to high surges and the rising sea levels".
"You are seeing tremendous damage to our coastal areas," he said.
Stanley, in the meantime, noted that damage to the coral reefs are seriously depleting the fish population.
"Coral reefs are responsible for fish aggregation in its natural sense," he said, adding also that the waters are becoming much warmer resulting in the migration of fishes particularly those that are sensitive to the increase in water temperatures.
"What we have found is that they (fishes) are migrating further north which means that fishermen have to increase their efforts and these have serious problems in terms of increase expenditure because of increased efforts to get to the fishes wherever they are," he said, noting that in the case of St Kitts-Nevis, the authorities are now deploying fish aggregating devices "in order to have the fishes congregate in a particular area so as to reduce the search for them".
