{"id":188069,"date":"2025-11-19T00:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/188069\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T00:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T00:51:13","slug":"small-island-nations-demand-emission-cuts-at-cop30-climate-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/188069\/","title":{"rendered":"Small island nations demand emission cuts at COP30 climate talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELEM, Brazil (AP) \u2014 Battered by last month\u2019s ferocious climate-fueled hurricane<\/a>, Jamaica joined other small island nations and impoverished countries at Monday\u2019s United Nations climate talks<\/a> to implore the rest of the world to stop talking and start acting. Their message: Our lives are on the line.<\/p>\n

As high-level ministers from governments around the world took over negotiations at the conference called COP30<\/a>, vulnerable nations lined up to say how important it is for countries to cut emissions. They said the world\u2019s current climate plans aren\u2019t strong enough to keep warming below the 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) set by the 2015 Paris Agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, they renewed a longstanding call for rich nations to do more financially to help poor countries deal with warming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurricane Melissa changed the life of every Jamaican in less than 24 hours,\u201d said Matthew Samuda, the country\u2019s economic growth minister. The Category 5 hurricane<\/a> that hit three weeks ago caused almost $10 billion in damage and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. He called it evidence of \u201cthe new phase of climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Matthew Samuda, minister of economic growth and job creation of Jamaica, speaks during a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

Matthew Samuda, minister of economic growth and job creation of Jamaica, speaks during a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe did not create this crisis, but we refuse to stand as victims,\u201d Samuda said. \u201cWe call on the global community, especially major emitters, to honor their commitments and safeguard the 1.5 degree threshold for Jamaica. This is survival. It\u2019s about our people and their right to a safe and prosperous future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armando Rodriguez Batista, Cuba\u2019s environment and science minister, noted his country was flooded by Melissa.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow it will be too late to do what we had to do a long time ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speakers lament slow progress <\/p>\n

Other nations reiterated the life-or-death nature of stepping up the fight to cut emissions, calling it \u201ca moral duty\u201d and saying climate damage is their day-to-day reality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sit on the roof of the house all night, looking at the neighbors, thinking whether or not the water will swallow us all,\u201d Romanian Environment Minister Diana-Anda Buzoianu said, reading the words of a victim of this year\u2019s floods<\/a> in her country.<\/p>\n

\u201cPromises alone will not hold back the rising seas,\u201d Seychelles Environment and Climate Minister Flavien Philomel Joubert said.<\/p>\n

A ruling earlier this year<\/a> by the International Court of Justice that climate change is a planetary existential problem that must be fixed is \u201cleverage\u201d that small island countries will use to speed up climate-fighting efforts at COP30, said Tuvalu Attorney-General Laingane Italeli Talia.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Brazil<\/p>\n

Brazil Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, right, shakes hands with U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock during a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

Brazil Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, right, shakes hands with U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock during a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

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That ruling shows that \u201cthe 1.5 target is not just a political aspiration, but a legal obligation informed by the best available science,\u201d Tuvalu Environment and Climate Minister Maina Vakafua Talia said as thunder from a passing storm reverberated through the hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are seeing the 1.5 target disappear before our eyes,\u201d Talia said, adding that for small islands \u201cit is the line between our survival and loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

But stronger climate plans and saving 1.5 is important for the whole world, not just small islands, he added.<\/p>\n

COP30, more heavily fortified after a pair of demonstrations disrupted the main venue in the first week, kicked off its second week with foreign and other ministers stepping in for the lower-level negotiators who handled it earlier. They have far more power and leeway to make tough political decisions, and U.N. Climate Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told them to use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spirit is there, but the speed is not,\u201d Stiell said. \u201cThe pace of change in the real economy has not been matched by the pace of progress in these negotiating rooms. As climate disasters wrecked millions of lives and hammer every economy, pushing up prices for food and other basic needs, we all know what\u2019s at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other speakers also urged quicker action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe time for promises is over,\u201d Brazil Vice President Geraldo Alckmin said. \u201cEach additional fraction of a degree of global warming represents lives at risk, greater inequality and greater losses for those who contributed least to the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said recent disasters show how much needs to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate crisis is unrelenting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe saw this when Hurricane Melissa barreled into the Caribbean two weeks ago. We saw it again last week at the Philippines … near back-to-back typhoons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Our existence is at stake\u2019 <\/p>\n

Adding to the pressure, late Sunday the Brazilian presidency of the talks issued a five-page summary on how to proceed on several sticky issues. Those include pressing nations to do more in their new emissions-cutting plans, handling of trade disputes and barriers involving climate and the need to deliver on last year\u2019s $300 billion annual pledge for climate financial aid to poor nations.<\/p>\n

Those difficult issues weren\u2019t part of the original agenda nor the COP30 presidency\u2019s plans, but several countries pushed for them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Attendees<\/p>\n

Attendees sit under a globe in a lobby at the side events pavilions at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

Attendees sit under a globe in a lobby at the side events pavilions at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo\/Fernando Llano)<\/p>\n

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Several countries \u2014 especially small island nations \u2014 have asked that the talks address the inadequacy of the emissions-cutting plans submitted by 116 nations so far this year. Collectively, the plans come nowhere close to cutting heat-trapping gases enough to prevent breeching the 1.5-degrees Celsius warming limit since the 1800s.<\/p>\n

That issue may get combined with a call for a plan for phasing out fossil fuels \u2014 coal, oil and natural gas, the chief cause of climate change. That phaseout was agreed to after much debate at U.N. climate talks two years ago, but last year, little happened on the issue. Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a> earlier this month raised the issue anew.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur very existence is at stake,\u201d Mauritius Foreign Affairs Minister Dhananjay Ramful said. \u201cA decade after the promises of the Paris Agreement, despite our good intentions, we realized that we have not done enough. … Our planet demands action now.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews\u2019 Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BELEM, Brazil (AP) \u2014 Battered by last month\u2019s ferocious climate-fueled hurricane, Jamaica joined other small island nations and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[105390,13642,3898,3477,442,105388,18,440,3334,33407,87877,79268,30613,19,17,24754,11992,105384,105389,105387,133,105386,105385,4913,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-188069","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-armando-rodriguez-batista","9":"tag-central-america","10":"tag-climate","11":"tag-climate-and-environment","12":"tag-climate-change","13":"tag-dhananjay-ramful","14":"tag-eire","15":"tag-environment","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-geraldo-alckmin","18":"tag-hurricane-melissa","19":"tag-hurricanes","20":"tag-hurricanes-and-typhoons","21":"tag-ie","22":"tag-ireland","23":"tag-jamaica","24":"tag-latin-america","25":"tag-luiz-incio-lula-da-silva","26":"tag-maina-vakafua-talia","27":"tag-matthew-samuda","28":"tag-science","29":"tag-simon-stiell","30":"tag-tropical-storm-melissa","31":"tag-united-nations","32":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115573626919147400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}