Improving access to climate financing for the Pacific Islands

by Nic Maclellan

Summary


In a Lowy Institute Analysis, Nic Maclellan discusses the challenges and opportunities for Pacific Island governments to access adaptation funding, to respond to the adverse effects of climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) commits developed countries to provide climate financing to developing nations, to address climate impacts on food security, water supply, agriculture and public health. But despite recent commitments of 'fast start' climate funding from donors, Pacific Island governments face significant obstacles in accessing resources to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change. The Analysis outlines innovative approaches that could strengthen Pacific access to climate finance and improve outcomes for vulnerable communities in our region.


A Policy Brief on the topic by the author is available here.

Cook Islands PM speaks on alarming effects of climate change

Danger posed by climate change, alarming

Cook Islands Herald Online

At a speech in Noumea, (Cook Islands) Prime Minister Hon Henry Puna told delegates the danger imposed by climate change on the Cook Islands was alarming. Puna was one of two political leaders invited as special guests speakers for the 7th SPC Conference in Noumea which began on Monday. The conference theme was ‘Climate Change and Food Security – challenges and solutions in the Pacific Islands countries and territories.'  Puna was joined by the Chair of the 7th Conference, Hon John Silk, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Republic of Marshall Islands.  The President of New Caledonia, His Excellency Mr Harold Martin opened the conference, for Ministers from the 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories including American Samoa, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Samoa.

Statement by Hon. Henry Puna

Prime Minister

Cook Islands

Salutations,

In 2010, the Pacific Small Island Developing States five-year review of the Mauritius Strategy for Further Implementation of the Barbados Programme of Action for Sustainable Development of SIDS (MSI+5) found that since the Rio Meeting in 1992 our vulnerability has increased whilst our capacity to cope has not. This has been due in no small part to the additional pressures of climate change, climate variability and sea-level rise which have been compounded by the international fuel, food and financial crises. These new pressures have exacerbated those that were identified in 1992. 

We share much in common. However, we each have our own particular challenges and opportunities, many of which stem from our largest shared resource, the Pacific Ocean. We have, are, and will continue forever to exist in a Blue World, the vast Pacific Ocean, which comprises over 95% of our sovereign territory and over which we have stewardship in the interest of the Global Commons.

Socially, the context of widespread small communities on generally small if not tiny islands provided, and still largely does provide, the basis for our traditional and cultural social fabric. The ocean feeds us (and a large part of the global community), it endangers us (cyclones, storm surges, and tsunamis), and underpins the many challenges we face (isolation from markets, high cost of imports and exports, cost of internal transport) and opportunities they have for economic development (tourism, fisheries, seabed minerals). 

Pacific Leaders have stated quite clearly that climate change is singularly the biggest threat facing our region now and into the future. I fear a recent report I read about over the weekend that indicates that greenhouse gas emissions may exceed the worst case scenario of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report in 2007. Unfortunately, this report over the weekend indicates that the problem is pretty close to running away from us.

For over a decade the science tells us that without dramatic reductions in green house gas emissions the futures of our island nations is under threat. The current and impending impacts of climate change will affect every aspect of our very survival into the future. 

The Cook Islands, like many of your countries has made great efforts to advance our data gathering, understanding and knowledge in order to enhance our preparedness to build our resilience to mitigate against disasters particularly now resulting from climate change. We are attempting to consider our vulnerabilities from national, regional and international perspectives, and quite frankly, what we have learnt is most alarming, and is going to require a concerted effort of those of us here today as well as many others in order to reduce the risks across our development agenda these vulnerabilities bring. 

Colleagues, let me now highlight the issue of “The Level of Acceptable Risk”, and of course who is responsible for determining the level of acceptable risk. It is within this context of risk that I will address our collective task here at this 7th Conference of the SPC the them of which is “Climate Change and Food Security – Managing risks for sustainable development”. 

There is no such circumstance as “No Risk”. Having accepted that as a reality, the task at hand is to “Know Risk”. In other words it is our collective responsibility to work together to assemble all the necessary data and information leading to knowledge and a better understanding of risk, and ultimately the determination of the level of acceptable risk. 

Who determines the level of acceptable risk? The answer of course differs around the region. For sure it is not the SPC’s responsibility. The SPC’s task is to provide the platform for informing all stakeholders, including through dialogue such as we are now engaged in here at this Conference. 

The Cook Islands, like your countries and territories, recognise that to manage risks will require an integrated approach across the development agenda and significant and appropriate adaptation actions are required to respond to the challenges posed by climate change and food security. Without a doubt, our own Joint National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction highlights the impacts of climate change on the livelihoods of our people including the impacts of climate change on Food Security and thereby resulting in disaster risk reduction. 

While having a common reliance in the Pacific on our fragile and limited natural resources, the Cook Islands’ vulnerable sectors have some variation from the rest of the Pacific. In our case being the almost entire reliance of our livelihoods on a limited set of socio-economic activities led by tourism, pearl farming and especially subsistence agriculture and fisheries. These sectors in turn are proving to be most sensitive to current and anticipated parameters impacted by climate change including temperature increases, sea level rise, ocean acidity, changes in seasonal weather patterns and more frequent and intense extreme events including cyclones and droughts.

In July my Government hosted the 3rd Regional Integrated Water Resources Management Meeting organised by the SOPAC Division of the SPC. Our attention was drawn to the impacts not only of cyclones but also droughts on the security (or rather insecurity) of our fresh water supplies.

In November we hosted the international World Meteorological Climate and Fisheries workshop, which emphasised what we already knew – that climate influences where and how productive our fisheries are – but also brought together new research that suggests that our collective regional fishing practices can make the difference between whether our large ocean of resources can cope with climate change. 

The big challenge it seems, is that we are not just facing one impact of climate change, but several in combination. 

The declaration on 28th September of a State of Emergency by Tuvalu in response to extreme drought conditions on Nukulaelae and Funafuti and rapidly deteriorating conditions on other outer islands has provide an opportunity for us all to reflect on this matter of drought. We now know other islands including some in the Cook Islands are close to if not in fact near to a state of emergency. 

Put simply, we need to do business better. 

Agriculture in the Cook Islands has suffered frequently from the effects of droughts while farmers have also observed changes in the timing of harvesting. Many attribute this to changes in the climate, and in particular rainfall. Many of our farmers since the time of our ancestors have used phases of the moon and climate seasons - the Arapo – as an almanac calendar that guides fishing and planting activities. This Arapo knowledge that has been passed down to successive generations, now with climate change seems to be out of phase. 

In regards to our reefs, I have been advised there are projections that we will reach a tipping point within the next 30-40 years after which our reefs will die permanently. The impact of this on our food security will be phenomenal and this is an unacceptable risk.

At the interface between the land and sea we are apprehensive about sea level rise causing salt water intrusion into growing areas, especially when combined with extreme events. For example, cyclones have destroyed entire taro plantation areas on our atoll islands of the Northern Cooks with the intrusion of saltwater into the groundwater lens. It takes many years before taro can again be reintroduced to the island. 

Increases in air temperature and other climatic changes can also lead to increased incidence of pests and disease which are likely to threaten agriculture. An example of this is the potato white fly which has become a concern in the Cook Islands most likely as a result of periods of warmer wetter conditions. We are looking to the region to help us with biosecurity and research on controlling such outbreaks.

In an environment where it is not possible to get climate related private sector insurance for either extreme events with associated loss of income, or for slower onset loss of land and productivity, risk management and transfer options are key tools that will likely only be feasible with regional and international cooperation, especially from the SPC with its now very broad mandate across almost all sectors of development .

The Cook Islands continues to face a higher cost and burden for increasing impacts of climate change on food security. While addressing these impacts are a priority, there are other also extremely important and competing priorities, such as health and education. 

Therefore we are in need of much greater, predictable and accessible, financial and technical support from our international partners to address this problem that is largely not of our doing, yet undermines our achievement of our development priorities. We have heard much about increasing climate finance but have not yet seen implementation on the ground.

We will also be taking this message to COP 17 in Durban this time next month. We will also be taking this message to the Rio+20 Meeting next June. In Rio we will be urging the world to recognise that the “Special Case” for SIDS has indeed not gone away though the context has changed over the past 20 years. Issues of isolation and lack of capacity remain as does the necessity that we are by endowment of Mother Nature required to do business in a Blue World. We need the support of all our partners to manage the risks in order to build our resilience and capacity to cope.

In concluding, my Government is moving toward a coordinated approach to addressing climate change through legislative, policy, and sector level activities, which in turn will assist the Cook Islands to cope with a changing climate. With others here today we look forward to seeing real progress in finding solutions, so our next meeting can focus on the challenges in implementing those solutions!

Climate Change - A Rising Sea Threatens Pacific Islands

Rousbeh Legatis

Inter Press Service

NEW YORK (IPS) - As world leaders gear up to spend the coming weeks in South Africa haggling over economically bearable cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is already exacerbating environmental conditions and threatening the lives and livelihoods of thousands of Pacific Islanders.

Diversity characterises the Pacific region, with its approximately 30,000 islands – of which 1,000 are considered to be populated – scattered across the world's largest ocean, which covers nearly a third of the earth's surface. 

"Right now, sea level rise is a reality but also a phenomenon which currently occurs in millimetres each year," pointed out John Silk, minister of foreign affairs of the Marshall Islands, at a conference in May at Columbia Law School in New York. 

"But the millimetres are turning into centimetres and there are inarguable risks of long-term sea level rise of a meter or much more." 

Long before small island states might find themselves submerged, another possible outcome of rising sea levels is that islands "are left barren, (or) uninhabitable", reckoned Peniamina Leavai of the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project (PACC). 

The situation and living conditions of inhabitants of the Pacific Islands vary greatly across the region, as they are shaped by the financial resources' availability, geography, technology and the affluence of the population. 

"The rate at which these affected areas become uninhabitable will also fall in a wide range, from already happening now, to happening in a couple of months, years, and in 20 years' time and more," Leavai explained to IPS. 

Yet environmental changes, accelerated by climate change, already severely affect the livelihoods of people in the Pacific. 

"High tides are frequent and continue to wash away our shorelines," said Council of Elders member Ursula Rakova, about the 2,700 families living on the Carteret islands, 86 kilometres away form Papua New Guinea's (PNG) main island Bougainville. 

"Our biggest concern is that one fine day, a king tide will simply sweep over the islands and most or all people will be washed away without any trace," she told IPS. Recently, one of the islands was divided in half by rising waters. 

The islands, lying 1.2 metres above sea level, have lost a significant area of arable land in a traditional culture where people's livelihoods are based on fishing and harvesting seasonal crops, even as the population grows. 

"The land is becoming less and less and the people find it harder to make gardens to sustain themselves," Rakova said. 

To address and adapt to the changed environmental conditions, the Council of the Elders developed and implemented what is called an autonomous adaption strategy by relocating and resettling their islanders in safer grounds. 

Rakova founded the organisation Tulele Peisa, which means "sailing the waves on our own", for this purpose. The organisation coordinates the relocation of the islanders to host communities. 

Two families to date have resettled to PNG's Marau islands and the move of another eight families is planned. While the international community is responding positively to their cause, Rakova emphasised that the government's reaction remains "very slow and does not set its priorities right". 

"The PNG Government responded to our call in October 2007 with PGK 2 million [about 700,000 U.S. dollars at the time] to the Carteret's Relocation Program, and the Bougainville administration has not since that time given a penny of that money to our organisation to support us in building homes for the Carteret's families," Rakova added. 

Meanwhile, Tokelau, Tuvalu and the Cook Islands currently suffer from drought conditions constituting a state of emergency, say experts who have been working intensively for decades to confront negative consequences of climate-induced changes in the Pacific region. 

They warn that the situation will only worsen if global climate policymaking follows a business-as-usual approach. 

In Tuvalu, where groundwater is unsafe due to high salinity and pollution, the drinking water scarcity could be further aggravated. There, rainfall is primary natural source for reservoirs, while accelerated sea level rise could cause the intrusion of seawater. 

This situation could easily result in social tensions between the affected population living on the main island, Funafuti, and islanders seeking drinking water who have migrated to Tuvalu's capital. 

More extreme and unusually frequent weather events like cyclones or tidal surges, driven by accelerated sea level rise, cause coastal erosion and force people to move inland to find new sources of livelihood. 

Samoa's coastlines, for example, have eroded from a few to 80 meters, and people have relocated inland where territory is already partitioned. Disputes over customary lands will likely intensify. 

"Picture the waves going past your home five meters inland from the shore, every morning and evening… This isn't your mansion. These are simple thatched roof shelters, with the risk of snakes, wallabies and fire ants," explained Leavai. 

Traditional knowledge about winds, seasons, rain patterns, the time at which mangroves can be crossed and what kind of clouds to look out for have become unreliable for the population, due to developments induced by climate change. 

Recently, in what was supposed to be monsoon season with typical knee-high flooding, some islands instead found themselves in a drought season. 

"People were experiencing dust, pigs killing banana trees for the water in trunks, and being robbed of their already withering food gardens by their neighbours, while wallabies and pythons decided to go beyond the borders of the jungle and into human settlements searching for food and water," described Leavai. 

In the face of these changes, local and regional response strategies have been formulated over time, and policy and decision-makers have been provided with information from lessons learned on the ground. 

But despite these very visible consequences of climate change in the Pacific, international development partners and donor countries have proven to be slow in increasing their efforts for finding a global solution for this global problem. 

Turks and Caicos March for Self Determination from British Dictatorship

by AnselBLoya    

Ground Report

Today the people of the Caribbean island of Turks and Caicos will stand up to British oppression and march against British rule.  The marches will take place in the local islands of Providenciales and Grand Turk.   

Thousands of islanders/Belongers are set to take to the streets today clad in red to march in an effort to expose the dictatorial tactics and abuse of the British government against the people. 

In August 2009 the British government took direct rule of the peoples' government in Turks and Caicos where they were to take temporary control pending new elections after the UK Foreign Affairs Committee accused former Premier Michael Misick of corruption (no charges have yet been laid and no trial is scheduled against Misick).   The temporary rule condition has turned into a full-scale government takeover of the islands by the British, including the British government scrapping the islands' constitution and installing a new constitution created by the British giving the themselves full power permanently. 

Since the British takeover, the British have "cleaned house" of Turks and Caicos locals by removing all local government officials and replacing them with British officials.  Land belonging to islanders have been illegally confiscated by the British, civil servants have been made "redundant", foreign residents are given voting rights in future elections thus disenfranchising islanders' votes, the laws have been rewritten to favor the British agenda, and many more changes implemented without the vote of the people.  The governor has scrapped all branches of government and runs the government and the special prosecution team without any separation of powers.

To answer to the two years of never ending abuse by the British, and casting aside the complaints of islanders, is today's protest against the British regime.  Groups such as, 1000 Youths For Justice (currently with 1400 members), The Civil Service Association, Turks and Caicos ministers and pastors have organized the event.

Thousands of Turks and Caicos Islanders, expatriates and foreign workers are set to stand behind the protest march along with all efforts to take back control of Turks and Caicos from British rule.  

One local educated Turks and Caicos Islander commented, "The British should be exposed. If our people keep sitting down and letting things happen around us then we would have squandered all the hardship and hard work (of) our generations before us."

Also see:

Interim Government imposes more new taxes on the Turks and Caicos Islands

Caymanian Pastor and stalwart activist joins the ancestors

Beloved Pastor Al Ebanks passes away 

                                             By: Norma Connolly; Brent Fuller

                                        Caymanian Compass

Pastor Al Ebanks

Pastor Al Ebanks, leader of the Agape Family Worship Centre in George Town, passed away 
Friday night. 

The 52-year-old pastor, who was chairman of the Cayman Islands Constitutional Commission, which is responsible for reviewing Cayman’s governance arrangements with the United Kingdom, had been battling a 
longtime illness. 

The Cayman Ministers Association, in which Pastor Al served as chairman from 2001 to 2006, in a notice to its members, said: “We give grateful thanks to the Lord for the gift and privilege of knowing such a good shepherd and guide, having him as our friend and benefiting from his 
outstanding leadership.” 

Wil Pineau, chief executive of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce, who served on the three-member Constitutional Commission with Pastor Al, called for a moment of silence to observe the passing of the much-loved minister at a health conference being held in Cayman on Saturday morning. 

He told attendees: “Our community has lost a loyal servant, a friend and a visionary,” and he asked the audience to observe a moment of silence to reflect on Pastor Al’s “outstanding life of service to others in our community”. 

“Cayman truly has lost a wonderful individual,” he said, adding he had worked closely with him on the Constitutional Commission where Pastor Al had used his “diplomatic nature” to deal with many issues arising from 
constitutional matters. 

Health Minister Mark Scotland offered his condolences to Pastor Al’s family on behalf of himself and the Ministry of Health.  

“Pastor Al, in his role in the Health Services Authority, gave great contributions to the country in that regard, as well as in others. He was involved in constitutional review for many years and obviously made many contributions in the community,” 
Mr. Scotland said. 

Pastor Al, whose full name was Alden A. Ebanks, was chairman of the Health Services Authority Board from August 2005 until 
September 2009. 

However, he is likely to be remembered more for his church services and efforts to assist the less fortunate in the local community. With help from the Department of Children and Family Services, Pastor Al, who at the time was chairman of the Ministers Association, led efforts to process applications and identify those most in need of 
assistance following Hurricane Ivan. 

Over the years, he had also served at the Marine Institute and the National 
Youth Commission. 

“When I heard of his passing, I was beside myself, distraught,” Premier McKeeva Bush said. “I really didn’t expect him to pass now.”  

Mr. Bush said he and Pastor Al went to school together in West Bay as children, the premier being just a few years older.  “The country has lost a good man,” Premier Bush said, adding he wished to send condolences to Pastor Al’s sisters, wife and family.

 “He was a man of God,” he said. “He was just a counsellor to the nation,” said Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin, a long-time friend of Pastor Al’s. “I don’t know that there’s any other person in Cayman that has that level of love and respect as Pastor Al.”  

Pastor Al (r) and the Cayman Ministers Association welcomed International Governance                         

Advisor Dr. Carlyle Corbin (center) during 2007 discussions on the Caymanian constitution. 

photo by by Dennie Warren, Jr.

Julene Banks, who also served on the constitutional commission with Pastor Al, said she has known him since childhood. “We have lost a wonderful, loving, compassionate man, but his light will shine on,” she said.  

In remembering Pastor Al, Mrs. Banks quoted from Psalm 24 – the section of the Holy Bible from which Cayman’s motto – 

‘He hath founded it upon the seas’ is derived. “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?

  

Who may stand in His holy place? 

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.  

“That sums up Pastor Al,” she said. Fellow minister Nicholas Sykes, who had known Pastor Al since the mid-1980s, said he remembered “with great thanks” his involvement with the Agape minister during the constitutional negotiations “and, indeed, before and since” then. 

Pastor Al was ordained a Christian minister in 1987 and became the full time pastor at Agape. In 2003, he was one of 500 people recognised as a nation-builder on Cayman’s Quincentennial Wall of Honour. 

Pastor Al (2nd right) participates in radio interview on constitutional issues with (from left) Billy Adam and Dennie Warren, Jr. of People for Referendum, and Dr. Carlyle Corbin. 

He served as co-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce working group on constitutional modernisation in the Cayman Islands and in this role, addressed the United Nations Select Committee of 24 on Decolonisation at the UN Headquarters in New York and also at a regional seminar in St. Vincent. In 2009, he travelled to London with a delegation to finalise Cayman’s new constitution, which was approved by voters later that year.  

He was a recipient of the Certificate and Badge of Honour from the Cayman Islands government.  

Pastor Al is preceded in death by his eldest son. He is survived by his wife Kathy and three children. 

Cayman Premier coordinates national response to UK territories policy review; concern for short timetable provided by British

Statement in regards to the UK – Overseas Territories Relationship Consultation Process

  by the Honorable McKeeva Bush

Premier

Cayman Islands

presented in the Legislative Assembly

on 17 November, 2011

 (Cayman News Service)

Thank you Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, over the past couple of weeks there has been public criticism by the Opposition and others, of the recent public consultation exercise in respect of the proposed 2012 White Paper on the relationship between the UK and the Overseas Territories, particularly the amount of time allowed for the consultation period, and the scheduling of the consultation.

photo by by Dennie Warren, Jr.

The criticisms made by certain Members of the House and at least one media outlet, were aimed at my Government, and at my role in particular.I therefore want to take this opportunity to ensure that Honourable Members of this House, and the general public, have a clear understanding of how the consultation process for the 2012 White Paper on the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories relationship came about. 

The short answer is that it was not until the 14^th of September 2011 that the Secretary of State made an announcement about the consultation process to the UK Parliament. The Minister for Overseas Territories Henry Bellingham, MP then sent a letter to me on the 16^th of September 2011 outlining, their policy goals. It was not until the 27^th September 2011, in a speech made in Bermuda, that a public consultation process was invited from the Overseas Territories by Minister Bellingham.

The consultation process has followed a timetable set by the FCO. In fact, they propose to bring forward the date for agreement on the new White Paper from June to spring 2012, and we are endeavouring to push it back. Because I am required to present our initial findings at the Overseas Territories Consultative Council next week, the local Review Committee recommended a deadline of 4^th November, 2011 so that it would have time to prepare its report.

The questions that were put to the public in our consultation exercise originated from a website created by the FCO. The only change made was that we substituted the words ‘Overseas Territories’ with ‘Cayman Islands’.

Madam Speaker, on the first of November the Member for North Side took to the airwaves as he usually does on Tuesday mornings and proceeded to confuse and mislead the people of this country. He did the same again at a public meeting in North Side.

The Member for North Side said on the Cayman Cross Talk show on November 1st that I had known about this white paper consultation a year ago, and that now we were rushing to complete it by the deadline. He said this was unacceptable and unreasonable.  The I-News of November 3, 2010 reported that the Member for North Side at a public meeting on November 2 said, quote: “I am disappointed with the secrecy that has surrounded this effort, and that fault lies with only one person: the Premier. He has known since November ‘10. Why has he not conducted this publicly?” Unquote.  I lay a copy of that news article on the table of the House.

Madam Speaker, the Member’s claim of secrecy is untrue. All that was known from the Overseas Territories Consultative Council meeting of November 2010 was that there was to be a review of the UK-OT relationship by the FCO. There was nothing more at the time. I gave notice of the review when I came back from the OTCC in November – December 2010.

Mr. Colin Wilson also jumped on the misinformation bandwagon with an editorial in the November 8^th edition of the I-News, in which he accused me of not telling the country about the public consultation until the eleventh hour, and I quote: “Hon. McKeeva Bush knew about the required public consultation in March and did not announce it until October,” unquote. He goes on to say, and I quote: “Now there is a mad rush to conduct the meetings and as Opposition leader Alden McLaughlin said, ‘People do not have the opportunity to understand the issues that matter, never mind go on to make a constructive contribution. People are being deprived of a proper opportunity to make representations.’” Unquote.  I table a copy of that editorial.

Madam Speaker, if people are being deprived of the opportunity to make representations that is not of my doing.  Let me make it perfectly clear Madam Speaker, the pubic consultation process on the UK’s relationship with the Overseas Territories is not an undertaking by me or the Cayman Islands Government.   This review and consultation is at the behest of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).  The Cayman Islands Government through the Cabinet Office facilitated that survey of local views, but it is the FCO that initiated review of the White Paper, and the consultation has been placed within the time-frame set by them. It is the FCO that decided when to announce the public consultation, it is the FCO that drew up the questions to be asked, it is the FCO that is driving the entire consultation process. I could not announce or begin the consultation process without the Terms of Reference, which the FCO has determined.

To support this point I would draw your attention to a news release sent by the Governor’s office and dated Tuesday, 28 September. This was not even sent out by GIS. This came directly from the Governor’s Office. The headline is: “FCO Minister Launches White Paper Dialogue”. 

The introduction reads, and I quote:  “Henry Bellingham, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has formally launched a consultation process in respect of the 2012 White Paper on the UK’s relationship with the Overseas Territories. His full speech, which was delivered on Monday during his visit to Bermuda, can be found on the Governor’s Office website…,” unquote. Madam Speaker, I lay a copy of that news release on the table of the House.

As for me knowing about the public consultation in March, I received a letter from Minister Bellingham dated 9 March 2011 regarding the UK and OT relationship review.  This letter does not make any mention of a public consultation. The letter detailed the three strands of the OT strategy and it says the Foreign Secretary plans to present the thinking outlined in the letter to the National Security Council ‘this spring’. 

“I envisage that we will discuss with each Territory the detailed substance of the relationship with the UK.  We will create opportunities for exchange of views and discussion as we work towards a new White Paper later in 2011 which sets out in detail our path to a sustainable and successful future,” end of quote.  The point is, at that stage they were still engaged in their internal process, and their positions were not put forward until months later, as I said before.

On the 7^th of September I made a statement in this Honourable House advising Members that I would seek Cabinet’s approval to establish a committee to review the process for our Country.  I emphasised that it is a two-part process, and that the first, input into the defining terms that are proposed to guide the evolution of the new strategy, had to be commenced immediately.

In that statement I said that the second part is geared towards more detailed review and input into the new UK-Overseas Territories agreement. I went on to say that the initial timetable, set out in November 2010 by the FCO Minister, was that the new framework was to be agreed by June 2012, but that now that they were starting the process, the UK had now suggested a radical shortening of this timetable, which would call for agreement to be reached by the spring of 2012, with all matters being reported by November this year, in time for the OTCC. I told Honourable Members that I am seriously concerned that this would prejudice the prospects of Territories, including ourselves, to put forward our best position, and accordingly intended to robustly challenge this new timetable, which I continue to do and will further pursue at the OTCC next week.

So Madam Speaker, I expressed my concern about the time we were given to present our views from September 7th.  How in view of these facts, could anyone come now and say that it is my fault that the time for consultation is so short? Except that the Opposition and the Member for North Side have done nothing but twist the truth in all that they do!

On the 14^th of September 2011 the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Rt. Hon. William Hague in a written ministerial statement advised the UK Parliament that the National Security Council had agreed the main principles of a new Overseas Territories strategy. His statement of 10 March had broached the intent of the UK Government in much broader terms. He informed Parliament on 14 September that, quote: “we are now engaging in discussion with the territories and our many stakeholders to identify the priorities for action in each relationship,” unquote.   In his closing paragraph Mr. Hague says the Government will publish a White Paper on the overseas territories ‘next year’.  Madam Speaker, I table a copy of that statement.

That statement was on the 14^th of September, and then on the 16^th of September a letter was sent to me from Minister Bellingham. In this letter for the first time we have reference to a consultation process that includes the general public.  In the letter Minister Bellingham said, quote:

“In order to focus discussion we have prepared a set of questions (attached) for you to consider. I would be grateful for your responses by 18 November, the end of the week before the Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC). I want this consultation to include as many people in the Territories as possible. I encourage you to discuss with the Governor how best to do this,” end of quote.  

Madam Speaker, I table the relevant pages of that letter.

Madam Speaker, if the Minister for the Overseas Territories is telling me on September 16^th that he wants responses from a consultation process that includes as many people of the Cayman Islands as possible by November 18^th , how is that my fault?  I have no argument with the point that the consultation process was too brief. But for the Opposition Leader to say it is my fault is misleading the country which it seems he has no problem doing.

It was not until the 27^th of September that Minister Bellingham publicly announced the consultation process in a speech while visiting Bermuda as referred to earlier in the news release that I tabled. In that speech he again said that he wanted the consultation process to include as many people as possible. He said that it was fitting to announce it at the college as the younger generation is the future. I table a copy of that speech.

I trust that the foregoing demonstrates that neither was I in a position to determine the timing of this consultation process, nor was I in a position to advise the public about it any sooner than it was done. The whole process was controlled by the FCO, not me, not my Government.

Madam Speaker, one has to really question the motives… question the intent… indeed question the sincerity of a Member who misleads the public so openly. At best it is negligent, at its worst it is malicious, and, without any foundation for doing so, appears calculated to undermine people’s confidence in the very institution of government in the Cayman Islands. Are they so blinded by ambition, Madam Speaker?

As for Colin Wilson’s editorial, Mr. Wilson should know that good journalists research their story to get the facts, and, they have an obligation to get both sides of the story - something he obviously needs to practice. I consider myself a student of history and I believe that there is good reason why news reports should be as accurate as possible. That editorial is likely to end up in an archive somewhere, and sometime in the future someone will read an editorial that distorts what actually happened.

 In his editorial Mr. Wilson referred to the UDP Government as “the most secretive of any administration I have known in the thirty years I have lived here.” Madam Speaker, I’ve been around politics since I was 17, that is longer than 30 years, and I know much more about the modus operandi of governments over the years than he ever will.  This Government is the most secretive administration in 30 years? That is a gross misrepresentation to say the least. 

Madam Speaker since we came to office in May of 2009 this Government has answered numerous Parliamentary Questions from June 2009 until September 2011.  There have been 1,366 Freedom of Information Requests filed since June of 2009, of that some 50 percent were either granted in full or granted in part.  Since February 2010 alone there have been 84 press releases from my office and many more from the Government through GIS, and I have held several press conferences and made several public statements.

How can Mr. Wilson call this Government the most secretive administration when his ace reporter Tad Stoner often talks to me personally and is able to quote me directly?  We may not always give Mr. Wilson the information he wants by his deadline but we do make information available to the public. All I ask is if someone is going to criticize the Government, then at least get the facts straight.

Madam Speaker, despite the short timeframe, I am proud to say here that the committee that was established to drive the consultation process made a sterling effort to reach out to as many stakeholders as possible and their efforts will be reflected in their report, which I will table in this Honourable House.  I will also venture to state that the various strategies that they employed to communicate with the Caymanian populace is unrivaled within the Overseas Territories, and I wish to publicly thank Mr. Lemuel Hurlston and his committee for their service.

In closing I should point out that people who have access to the internet can still make their views known to the FCO through the FCO website until 31 December 2011.  I encourage them to do so. I invite them to carefully consider my account of this White Paper consultation process, and to look forward to my progress report after the OTCC next week. Our relationship with the UK is of great importance to us as a government, as it remains of great importance to all of Cayman, to the people whom we serve. We do not take that service lightly. We strive robustly on a daily basis to advance the best interests of the Cayman Islands, and will certainly do so in this White Paper review. We will push for a true partnership, for mutually beneficial objectives, and to begin with, both a definition of principles and a timeframe for an agreement, which will effectively realize those ends. We do our utmost for the betterment of Cayman, and we have no fear of accountability for the service we render.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.