Caribbean Life, S BQ eptember 20-26, 2019 11
tially irreversible consequences
of inaction.
As regards our ocean,
the upcoming Special
Report on the Ocean and
Cryosphere in a Changing
Climate is likely to
confirm what the islands
of the Blue Pacific continent,
and others whose
cultures, traditions and
livelihoods are deeply
attached to the ocean,
have already sensed: the
climate crisis is a real
and present threat to
ocean and coastal ecosystems
and the human
communities that
depend on them.
The stakes are high,
but where there is a
threat there is also an
opportunity. If we act
now, there is still have
time effectively to tackle
the climate crisis! To
put it simply: ambition
without action is insufficient
and simply not an
option. SPC is committed
to working with our
Member States, international
and regional
partners to translate
climate ambition into
tangible climate action,
for both mitigation and
adaptation. The benefits
could be huge, with the
Global Commission on
Adaptation estimating
that investing $1.8 trillion
in climate adaptation
globally in just five
areas from 2020 to 2030
could generate $7.1 trillion
in total net benefits.
We are also convinced
that we must collectively
harness the synergies
between, for example,
climate and the ocean,
biodiversity, health,
security, economic
development, food systems,
land use, gender
and many other development
areas to fully
exploit the potential of
the SDGs and ensure
that future pathways to
sustainable development
are integrated, inclusive,
nature-friendly, climateinformed
and resilient.
SPC is already implementing
this approach
with its Members and
partners. One illustration
is our EU funded
PROTEGE project,
whose intended outcomes
include a transition
to sustainable integrated
agriculture and
sound forestry resource
management; sustainable
fisheries and aquaculture
management
that is integrated in and
adapted to island economies;
sustainable integrated
water resource
management; and invasive
alien species control,
all against a backdrop of
climate-change hazards
that require ecosystem
and biodiversity protection,
resilience and restoration.
vagaries of global finance
and US interest rate decisions,
subordinate financialization
constrains governments’
capacities to
provide macroeconomic
stability by trying to stabilize
aggregate demand,
let alone undertake countercyclical
policy;
• subordinate financialization
tends to promote
the privatization of
public services by legitimizing
the notion that
public goods – education,
health, infrastructure
– can be better provided
by the private sector
with finance from capital
markets. Development
finance is thus redeployed
to ensure profits for private
finance, investors
and companies.
International
financial anarchy
unchecked
Efforts to deepen
national capital markets
have been backed by
powerful financial interests,
domestic and foreign,
especially the major
international financial
institutions. Multilateral
development banks have
been urging developing
country governments
to get private finance to
fund development, social
and environmental initiatives.
Their message has
shifted from ‘working on
finance’, to try to ensure
more resilient and robust
development despite
international financial
volatility and instability,
to thus ‘working
with finance’. Meanwhile,
institutional investment
managers are expected to
turn to ‘impact investing’
with supposedly beneficial
effects, such as green
bonds, development
impact bonds and infrastructure
bonds.
To make matters worse,
there is no international
financial regulator, as
all regulation and regulators
are national, even
in implementing Bank
of International Settlements
(BIS) standards.
Both the BIS and the IMF
acknowledge cross-border
transmission of risks, but
national regulators focus
on their national economies,
leaving others more
vulnerable than ever.
Jomo Kwame Sundaram,
a former economics
professor, was
United Nations Assistant
Secretary-General
for Economic Development,
and received the
Wassily Leontief Prize for
Advancing the Frontiers
of Economic Thought.
Dr Michael LIM Mah
Hui has been a university
professor and banker,
in the private sector and
with the Asian Development
Bank.
OP-EDS
Addressing vulnerabilities of SIDS Development finance profits private sector
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