PM: Cultural, behavioural shift crucial to tackling climate change

Prime Minister Mia Mottley says there needs to be a significant cultural and behavioural shift to address the escalating challenges of climate change. 

She was speaking during a ceremony commemorating the influential work of the late Ambassador Miles Stoby and the pivotal role he played in advocating for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and developing the Barbados Programme of Action.

The meeting, organised by the family of the late Guyanese diplomat, took place on Friday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, the same venue – then named Sherbourne Conference Centre – which hosted the Barbados Programme of Action in 1994. From April 25 to May 6,  that year, United Nations member countries gathered to acknowledge that SIDS are at the forefront of the climate crisis, recognising the need for global action. 

During her address, the PM stressed the necessity of rethinking the existing approach to climate change, suggesting that policy changes alone are insufficient without a simultaneous shift in cultural attitudes.  

“We believe that there is a sense of urgency that is critical if we are to meet the objective of keeping ourselves, our country and our planet safe,” she stated.

“And that is going to require coordinated action, not just at the government level, but the heavy lifting now is a change of culture and a change of behaviour that is not yet being seen across the world; and if we thought that getting governments to change policies was hard, getting people to change behaviour is going to be much harder.” 

Sharing similar views was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds who delivered the opening address. 

He illustrated the specific vulnerabilities faced by Barbados and similar islands, noting that the predictions from 1994 have now become a stark reality, demanding not just immediate attention but instant and concerted action.

“In Barbados today, there are parts of our west and north coast that, quite frankly, are completely different from the way they would have looked when the prime minister and I would have been children growing up,” Symmonds said. “We are living this thing and this is important, not only by virtue of our commemoration of Miles’ life and contribution, but it is exceptionally important as we try to locate that work which he has done in the context of that ongoing challenge that we have to confront and overcome in order to sustain our existence as small island states today.”

Former Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian and Emergency Relief, Peter Hanson who was also in attendance reminisced about Stoby’s profound commitment to humanity and his role at the United Nations.

“We are here, a very diverse group, very diverse backgrounds, very diverse beliefs and experiences, but there’s one thing at least that unites us, and I think that is our love and respect for Miles Tobey, for the values for which he stood and fought so bravely, and for the ideals of the United Nations, which he embodied as much as anybody,” he said. (SM)