By Donald Ramotar, Former President of Guyana

   A worrying thought is that the hurricane season has only just began. God forbid that we get another hit in this season. However, that eventuality cannot be ruled out.

   While we continue to describe events as natural disasters, we now know that that is not the whole truth. Scientists have advised us that the frequency and intensity of these events are a direct result of human activities, particularly since the industrial revolution. We have polluted the world, and we rapidly changed the climate.

   Unfortunately, despite this knowledge, we continue to abuse nature. We appear to be incapable of doing things differently and are marching to even worse catastrophic events.

   What would be Caricom’s answer in this situation? No doubt the leaders will bemoan the fact that we are among the least of the polluters but are amongst the worst hit by its negative consequences.

   They would most likely call on the rich, developed countries which were and are the greatest polluters, to honor their commitments made at regular international fora and transfer money to poorer countries to work on some adaptational measures. That call would fall on deaf ears, it would be promptly ignored as has happened so often in the past.

   While the demand for resources to implement some adaptational measures must continue, however, it is important that the region’s leaders go to the root causes of the problem and be bold in taking firm steps to deal with it.

   One of the great contributors to environmental degradation today is the numerous wars and conflicts which are relatively widespread. The damage done to our planet’s atmosphere by military and military conflicts are mostly still a big secret.

   However, what is clear is that wars are particularly harsh on our environment. It’s contribution to climate change is extremely high.

   Just pause to look at the terrible destruction in the Gaza caused by the genocidal war that Israel is prosecuting. At the time of writing, it is estimated that 70,000 tons of bombs were dropped on that tiny strip averaging 21 miles long and 4 miles wide. Millions of tons of dust are daily pushed into the atmosphere contributing to worsening of the climate catastrophe.

   Add to this, the green house gases released by the tons of bombs that are killing innocent civilians is further contributing to the destruction of the world we live in.

   In this regard, it is not just Israel that is to be blamed. The United States and many NATO countries that have been the main suppliers of weapons to that murderous fascist Israel regime, are definitely complicit with the killings and the other crimes against humanity.

   Caricom leaders must be bold to make this point explicitly. This is time to call a spade a spade. It is after all in our own interest to halt the barbarous and uncivilized behavior of Israel and its backers.

   Caricom has much greater power than it possibly realizes. It is time to use our strength unitedly. All the countries in the region should break diplomatic relations with Israel. Take a leaf out of the book of South Africa and act boldly on behalf of humanity.

   Such an act will help to bring the massacre to an end and will establish a benchmark where others would follow. Most of all, it would be in our best interest since it would be making a great contribution in the fight against climate change and the destructive power of hurricanes, which ravage us so often.

   The war in Europe is also causing very serious damage to the world’s climate and must be stopped. That conflict can degenerate into nuclear war and the end of intelligent life on earth.

   For that to be halted NATO powers must give up their ambitions of world domination. NATO must halt its expansion and abandon their tactic of threatening countries with destruction. The surrounding of China and Russia with military bases is creating tensions and conflicts. If allowed to continue we can only expect more destructive wars.

   The principles of equal security for all countries is vital to prevent conflicts and wars. This important measure must be fully respected by all. Efforts by Western powers to emasculate the United Nations must end now.

   Imagine that during this conflict one of the NATO countries, most people believe it was the United States, blew up the North Stream 2 pipelines releasing millions of tons of environmentally dangerous gases in the atmosphere. This was a conscious decision and deliberate act.

   The perpetrators knew that that would have worsened the climate crisis. Yet no one even the “environmentalists” said anything. They were quiet as a church mouse.

   Caricom leaders must not shy away from their responsibility in making a contribution to world peace and a cleaner world. This is time to tell our friends who are supporting the Zelinsky regime that they are wrong. After all, Russia and China are not attempting to surround the US or any NATO country with military bases. It is they who are the victims of NATO’s encroachment and aggression.

   Our leaders must demand an end to those measures which endanger the whole world. Recall the stance taken by the US in 1962 when it felt threatened by nuclear weapons. We say do onto others as you will have them do onto you.

   Finally, we must work towards expanding our degree of freedom. Our sovereignty is important, and we must always strive to strengthen our independence.

   To do so our leaders should consider diversifying our international relations. A multi-polar world is advancing, and the period of unipolar world has come to an end.

   This process is now manifest with the expansion of the BRICS alliance. More and more countries are joining this bloc to protect themselves from unilateral and illegal actions by Western imperialist and former colonial powers.

   Caricom leaders must examine these trends and broaden their international relations so that we can increase our degree of freedom and allow us to take a firm stance against the violations of human rights and to have justice for all.

   These measures have the possibility of impacting positively on our people’s socio-economic conditions and allow us to make a worthy contribution to international life and to contribute meaningfully to the struggle to halt Climate Change.