United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Barbados on Saturday, 2 October, for a two-day visit to take part in the opening ceremony of the fifteenth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, known as UNCTAD15.
On Sunday morning, the Secretary-General met with a group of young Barbadians who are working on innovative solutions to the world’s great challenges — from climate action to COVID-19 recovery. In a frank exchange, the United Nations Chief told the young activists that his generation has failed to meet expectation of passing a world in good shape to the next generation. He stressed that their generation “cannot afford to fail”, and it is therefore incumbent upon leaders to support young people in their efforts.
Also on Sunday, the Secretary-General saw first hand the impacts of climate change in Barbados. Accompanied by Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley, the Secretary-General visited an area impacted by sea-level rise, coastal erosion and land slippage, and learned about the enormous efforts being undertaken by the Government of Barbados to address these challenges.
The Secretary-General stressed the need to support developing countries with climate finance as “the goal of adaptation is to build resilience to prepare people for the devastating impact of climate change”. He noted that “small island States all around the world cannot do it without much more support”. He again appealed to developed countries and the world’s international financial institutions to provide at least 50 per cent of climate finance to support developing countries to adapt and build resilience to climate change, emphasizing that this is a key priority for the upcoming twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
