Premier flies to Scotland for COP26 climate conference

Premier Wayne Panton will be flying to Glasgow, Scotland this weekend to participate in the COP26 UN climate change conference, his office confirmed Friday.

Panton, who is also the minister for sustainability and climate resiliency, will join the United Kingdom delegation and will have access to the Blue Zone, the United Nations-managed space that hosts the negotiations and brings together delegations from 197 parties, the statement said.

The release says Panton will return to the Cayman Islands on 3 Nov. His office also confirmed to the Cayman Compass that upon return the Premier will quarantine according to the regulations, which is seven days isolation for vaccinated individuals.

“While I know that I can make our voice heard about climate change while in Glasgow, I am also aware that I need to come home to continue addressing issues, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the need to finalise the first budget for the PACT Government,” he said.

The announcement from Panton’s office comes the same day Cayman announced 154 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the jurisdiction’s total of active cases to 646 – the highest number the islands have experienced since the pandemic began.

Panton, in the statement, explained his trip, saying, “Our presence there will afford the Cayman Islands an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with global partners in our collective fight against climate change and the damage it is doing to planet Earth.”

Access to the Blue Zone, the premier’s statement said, is restricted primarily to government ministers and accredited public officials and is the venue for the World Leaders’ Summit on 1 and 2 Nov.

“The impact of climate change is frightening, especially for small island states like ours. Our voices need to be heard loud and clear and I intend to add mine to those of our regional colleagues who share the same vulnerabilities and concerns,” he said.

The premier said the Caribbean is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and increase in water temperature.

“Our rallying cry remains ‘1.5 to stay alive’, the goal is to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels to prevent the worst of the climate change impacts to the Caribbean, including ensuring coral reef and biodiversity survival. I join with the regional community to strongly advocate closing the emissions gap, and increasing financial support for those nations most vulnerable to climate change impacts,” Panton said.

Cayman students Dejea Lyons and Isabella Watler will also be attending the youth conference at COP26 and will be chaperoned by Catherine Childs, environmental programmes manager at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands.

The full Glasgow conference runs from 31 Oct. to 12 Nov.

What is COP26

COP26 is an annual UN conference that brings together leaders and negotiators from across the world with the aim of accelerating action to tackle climate change.

The conference will focus on how countries can achieve the goals set out in:

• The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty that commits countries to reduce greenhouse emissions to keep the global temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius due to climate change; and

• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which established an international environmental treaty to combat “dangerous human interference with the climate system”, in part by stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.