Grenada: Climate change, Commonwealth and Windrush

By Michelle Nurse Last updated May 2, 2018

PM Keith Mitchell at the just-concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

“I think it’s the collective voice. I think one of the problems that we’ve had about small states is that we have not been speaking enough in unison” – that’s how Grenada’s Prime Minister, Keith Mitchell, summed up the approach to climate change when he spoke to Caribbean Intelligence©.

First annual report on #climatechange : “We must align planning and action on climate change with the #SDGs and the #SendaiFramework for Disaster Risk Reduction,” says @PEspinosaC @unfccc #switch2sendai #GlobalGoals https://t.co/AmoPXToAh5 pic.twitter.com/be6paTCUlG

— UNISDR (@unisdr) May 1, 2018

Dr Mitchell was, like many of his Caribbean colleagues, a man on a mission at the recently-concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London. The Caribbean leaders arrived to talk deals in bilateral meetings and push for their smaller country needs at the Commonwealth summit, this year overshadowed by the host country’s Brexit issues and larger Commonwealth countries fixated on fighting the anti-globalisation trend being set by the US.

One Caribbean diplomat had told Caribbean Intelligence© ahead of CHOGM that the region had been concerned that, even with the Commonwealth’s unique forum which allows smaller countries an equal voice, the Caribbean agenda could have got lost at this 53-member forum.