Davis: Political changes stalling climate progress

The Ba­hamas Prime Min­is­ter Philip Davis says changes in gov­ern­ment and shift­ing na­tion­al pri­or­i­ties are un­der­min­ing ef­forts to tack­le the cli­mate cri­sis, warn­ing that small is­land de­vel­op­ing states can­not af­ford to keep in­her­it­ing promis­es that are nev­er ful­filled.

Speak­ing to the Guardian Me­dia on the side­lines of COP31 in An­talya, Türkiye, Davis said the in­ter­na­tion­al cli­mate ne­go­ti­a­tions must move be­yond di­a­logue, de­c­la­ra­tions and com­mu­niqués to­wards con­crete ac­tion that coun­tries can re­ly on, re­gard­less of changes in po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship.

He ar­gued that while there has been po­lit­i­cal will among coun­tries to ad­dress cli­mate change, changes in ad­min­is­tra­tions have re­peat­ed­ly dis­rupt­ed progress made through the Unit­ed Na­tions cli­mate process, which has been run­ning for al­most three decades.