The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

IT has not been a good week for the PLP government.

Officials still can’t find their way to an answer on how much the trip to Bermuda by the PLP – rather than an official government trip – has cost the public and who authorised the administration to float the party a free loan by paying the cost of the visit. At the end of last week, press secretary Clint Watson was saying that we don’t even know the cost of the trip – so that free loan was a blank cheque.

And awkward questions linger over advice given to Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Works Minister Alfred Sears after a letter was tabled in Parliament from BPL’s former chief executive with regard to the company’s fuel hedging strategy and the need to maintain it.

The suggestion there is that the administration missed out on an opportunity to save millions – leaving all of us to literally pick up the bill from increased prices.

Given the public utterances by senior officials on the topic, that leaves some sticky questions.

So a good week would do the administration the world of good – and they face the prospect of that soon, with the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP27, coming up soon.

The event runs from November 6-18, and a sizeable party of 70 is headed to the event from The Bahamas. That trip probably would benefit from not setting off in the shadow of questions over the Bermuda expedition – but in truth they are two very different matters.

Instead, this is a return to the same platform that gave Mr Davis perhaps his best moment since becoming Prime Minister.

At the event’s predecessor, COP26, held in Glasgow last year, he called on leaders to “do what is needed, not what you can get away with” and told them to “turn promises to small island developing states into action”.

He talked of how “we cannot outrun your carbon emissions, we cannot outrun the hurricanes which are growing more powerful and we cannot outrun rising sea levels, as our islands disappear beneath the seas”.

He warned: “Without change – if we are lucky – we will become refugees. Without change – if we are unlucky – then we will be left to the mercy of future Hurricane Dorians. More of my people will die. More will be left traumatised and homeless.

“People will be forced to flee but flee to where? These are my neighbours, my family, my friends. My plea is both urgent and deeply personal. And I make it on behalf of all humanity.”

Mr Davis’ speech brought international attention, and he has continued to beat the drum on behalf of action over climate change ever since.

In terms of direct action, the most notable effort here at home has been to set up the system to benefit from carbon credits. Other nations, companies and so on that are polluters can then offset their emissions by using our carbon credits – and paying us for doing so.

That money can then be used in many ways – but the most sensible one would be to pay for the damage caused by climate change or in preparing to mitigate the effects coming our way.

The call for polluting nations to pay up was echoed last week by Rochelle Newbold, the Prime Minister’s special advisor on climate change, who said: “The climate is such a focus for us. Because if you’re not going to make the necessary changes now, then in that sense, we need you to pay for whatever is happening to us at this time, until you are able to make your adjustment.”

Perhaps underreported, there is another encouraging measure that the government is introducing, with a new coastal management scheme being launched.

The Tribune reported on this last month, with Works Minister Mr Sears launching the Integrated Coastal Zone Management project at Balmoral Club.

There is a loan agreement involved for $35m from the Inter American Development Bank, and Mr Sears said the goal is to build infrastructure to help with coastal resilience throughout the country, including New Providence, central Long Island, Andros and East Grand Bahama.

Mr Sears said at the time: “The most notable impact of climate change is the rising sea levels. Are you aware that global sea levels have increased by 3.7mm per year between 2006 and 2018? And experts believe with great confidence that sea levels will continue to rise over the next century. This is frightening for a flat coastal country.”

Indeed, in another article, a study predicted that half the nation is vulnerable to storm surge – and things as they stand aren’t going to be getting better.

Put all that together and you see rising waters, increased hurricane strength, more damage, vanishing shorelines, people being driven out of their homes and forced to become refugees. So yes, getting the nations responsible for emissions to pay for the damage that is caused is exactly the right thing to be calling for.

In this very column after last year’s event, I wrote: “It has been a good week for Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis…”

There remain questions about how we follow up on our end of the deal with any money that will be received or to further our own transition to renewable energy. In last week’s Tribune, it was reported that BPL faces a dilemma if the big hotels convert to renewable energy because suddenly there goes 15 percent of its revenues.

If Atlantis and Baha Mar provide their own power, BPL could be on shaky ground – so where does that leave any push we might have as a nation to move to solar, wind or tidal energy?

Still, COP27 is another opportunity for Mr Davis to make a stand on the international stage, and remind the world that nations at risk from climate change will continue to be a thorn in the side of those most able to effect change.

Until he gets there, his government may still be dogged by issues that could probably be solved by straight answers – and any consequences that spring from those. But once he gets there, my bet is that it will be another good week for Mr Davis.