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Time travel

Posted on by H.E. Dr Kevin M. Isaac

Time travel
by H.E. Dr Kevin M. Isaac

Has time ever tempted you
to run away,
as far as your feet would go;
to grab hold of the soft hand of a dream and follow wherever it leads.

Has life ever tried to seduce you,
urged you to pack light,
and hit that open road to anywhere;
where brisk, soft winds gently kiss your face and affection powers your mind’s sails;
as tomorrow pulls you forward.

Was there ever a time
you craved that hushed tranquillity off the beaten track,
alone with your thoughts
letting you look deep into
the dreamy eyes of a cherished dream
and fall madly in love with the impossible until boundaries expire?

When was the last time
your heart grazed wild in open fields skipped rope with whistling birds;
flirted with precocious flowers,
danced with nosy trees in damp grass
and dodged fireflies
on the eyelids of love.

Was there ever a moment
when you wanted to sit very still…
Perhaps on a parked bench
along the river’s edge,
tease your thoughts
and disappear into a world
that made you feel safe, fulfilled,
as life’s rewards bowed at your feet
letting you drift away briefly

Or maybe,
you remember a time
when you longed to partner
with your soul’s partner;
share thoughts by symbiosis,
exchange raw emotions
and feel full –
knowing you were understood fully.

H.E. Dr Kevin M. Isaac is St. Kitts and Nevis’ High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He recited this poem at the Commonwealth Foundation’s Festive Poetry Event.

Read two other poems from the event:
‘I don’t want a dead hero’ by H.E. Dr Farah Faizal
‘Tuvalu, Tuvalu’ by Sir Iftikar A. Ayaz KBE

I don’t want a dead hero

Posted on by H.E. Dr Farah Faizal

I don’t want a dead hero
~Farah~

I don’t want a dead hero
However noble it may sound
Yes, you can write stories about him
and tell it to your grandchildren,
I don’t care,
I want him safe and not
Buried. Out. there.

I don’t want a dead hero
with his name on headlines news
Yes, you can clap all night, then what?
Tweet RIPs the next day?
I don’t care
I want him doing his work
In. Protective. Wear.

I don’t want a dead hero
and be a COVID widow to read
poetry by a modern-day Owen
of the horrors on the frontline.
I won’t wear
some flower on my breast
years from now. I want him
Safe. And. Alive.

I don’t want a dead hero
I want him home from work everyday
having saved others to save me,
I want to see tomorrow.
walk together on the sandy shores
of our island home,
I want to grow old with
My. Own. Hero.

H.E. Dr Farah Faizal High Commissioner of Maldives to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. She recited this poem at the Commonwealth Foundation’s Festive Poetry Event.

Read two other poems from the event:
‘Time travel‘ by H.E. Dr Kevin M. Isaac
‘Tuvalu, Tuvalu’ by Sir Iftikar A. Ayaz KBE

Seasonal message from the Director-General

Posted on by Anne Therese Gallagher

On behalf of the Commonwealth Foundation, I offer my warmest wishes to the People of our Commonwealth and our valued Member States for a happy and safe holiday season.

Life continues to be challenging for so many of the Commonwealth’s 2.4 billion citizens. The Covid-19 pandemic is still with us and its effects—on our loved ones, our economies, our way of life—will continue to be felt for years. The climate crisis is deepening across the Commonwealth: presenting an existential threat to some of our smallest and most vulnerable Member States. And the perennial problems of inequality, poor governance and inadequate protection of rights and freedoms remain unresolved.

No single person, no single organisation or government, can turn the tide on this catalogue of troubles. But change is possible if we care enough to try. And change is inevitable if enough of us come together under a broad umbrella of shared understanding and shared values. The Commonwealth offers that umbrella. It is our collective task to nurture its potential and support its growth.

‘No single person, no single organisation or government, can turn the tide. But change is possible if we care enough to try.’

At the Commonwealth Foundation our focus is firmly on solidarity with the people of the Commonwealth. We are committed to using our resources, expertise, platforms and partnerships to amplify their voices and advance their interests. We do this in three ways. First, by supporting the active and constructive participation of Commonwealth citizens in all aspects of their governance. Second, by nurturing the growth of vibrant and free civil societies. And third, by advancing the principles and ideals of the Commonwealth.

Throughout 2021 we have strived to deliver on this mission: reaching an ever-wider audience with our programmes; and starting conversations that we hope will play a role in reinvigorating the Commonwealth, so it is fit to rise to the challenges of the day and spur collective action.

‘The Foundation belongs to the People of the Commonwealth. [Their] involvement in matters that affect their lives is sowing the seeds of change. We need committed citizens to speak their truth loudly and clearly.’

Much has happened this year, with records broken in relation to the number of grants applications received and entries submitted into our Commonwealth Short Story Competition. I am especially proud of our online events series –A Commonwealth of the People?– which so bravely and firmly grasped the nettle of Commonwealth reform. The unprecedented level of interest (to date well over 300,000 views) confirmed to us that vital questions about the Commonwealth’s future are of deep interest to many people. I encourage all those who have not yet watched the series to view it now via our website—and to think of ways we can continue these important conversations at next year’s Commonwealth People’s Forum in Kigali.

Perhaps most significant for me has been the expansion of our community. The Foundation belongs to the People of the Commonwealth, and it is heartening to watch the rapid rise in the level and depth of engagement with our work. The involvement of Commonwealth citizens in matters that affect their lives is sowing the seeds of change. We need committed citizens and civil society organisations to speak their truth loudly and clearly. We need them to work with and alongside government to help shape just and equal societies.

The Commonwealth is bound by a web of connections that cut across history, language and law. But it is the core values of this organisation –democracy, human rights, human dignity and equality– that deserve to be celebrated above all else.

Dr Anne T. Gallagher AO is Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Climate justice: small island states push back

Posted on by Anne Therese Gallagher

Small island states are experiencing global warming in ways that most of us can barely imagine.

From the Pacific to the Caribbean, these tiny nations, already highly vulnerable, are being battered by hurricanes and rising sea levels; their shorelines are retreating; salinisation is ruining agricultural land and compromising vital sources of freshwater. Whole villages and communities are physically shifting to higher ground.

For countries like Tuvalu in the Pacific, and Antigua and Barbuda in the Caribbean, claims of existential risk are not alarmist. Rather they reflect the very real possibility that, along with some of the world’s other 192 nation-states, Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda may not exist in physical form in just a few decades time. And this is not the only path to disaster. Because they lack the capacity to absorb large shocks, a single severe weather event in a small island state can wipe out livelihoods and decimate the economy.

‘Some countries will sink while others will swim.’

The global diplomatic discourse around climate favours a false equivalence, a mantra that we are all responsible, that we are in this together. But that is untrue. Some countries will sink while others will swim. Some countries bear much more responsibility for damaging the climate than others. Some continue to enrich themselves in the full knowledge that they are causing real and lasting harm.

On the first day of the COP26 climate summit, Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda took a modest but important step towards climate justice. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the Prime Ministers of these two small nations announced the establishment of a Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law.

This is a momentous development. Until now, international law has not been consistently or effectively used to hold countries to account for the damage they have inflicted on others through practices that contribute to global warming. This is despite well-established principles such as ‘polluter pays’; a dense web of rules that assign liability for foreseeable harm and ask that it remediate it; and a network of courts and tribunals that exist to uphold these laws and hold violators to account.

The hope is that all countries in similar positions to Tuvalu and Antigua and Barbuda will sign up to the Commission. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), an intergovernmental body that brings together small and low-lying coastal developing States, is key here. The alliance has been instrumental in bringing its members to the big table: amplifying the voices of those who would otherwise be relegated to the sidelines. AOSIS Member States understand, very well, the problem of false equivalence. They are starting to reject handouts, rather demanding debt relief and fair access to vital financing for mitigation and adaptation as a right. They are now going even further: threatening, in very clear terms, to take their claims for loss and damage to international courts and tribunals.

‘No longer will they wait patiently while pledges of the rich and powerful go unfulfilled.’

The issue of liability and compensation for loss and damage associated with global warming has long been a sticking point in climate diplomacy and a focal point for civil society advocacy. Despite strong lobbying by AOSIS members, the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC) failed to include any meaningful acknowledgement of loss and damage. Subsequent efforts by States Parties to the UNFCCC to fill this gap have been subdued and largely unsuccessful.

The announcement of an International Loss and Damage Commission—established outside the ‘formal ‘system’—should be taken as a clear sign that the world’s small island developing countries have had enough. No longer will they be lectured about needing to reduce their own meagre carbon emissions while archaic development financing rules obstruct their access to vital funds. No longer will they wait patiently while pledges of the rich and powerful go unfulfilled. No longer will they pretend to be satisfied with vague commitments and empty promises.

For Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda and Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu, the time has come to use the sharp tools of international law to hold those who are most responsible for global warming to account. They deserve our respect and support.

Anne T. Gallagher AO is Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation. 

Pacific priorities for COP26: make real changes, make money flow

Posted on by Lice Movono

They want the same thing they have been asking for in the years since the Paris Agreement was made at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) six years ago.

However, with increasing adverse weather events and the latest science confirming unequivocally what they have known for years—that human activity in the larger economies has affected their way of life, possibly irreversibly—young Pacific climate activists are demanding action.

Lavetanalagi Seru is a young climate justice activist based in Suva, Fiji and, as the founder of the Alliance for Future Generations which he established several years ago, he wants world governments to effectively engage youth in the COP26 negotiations in Glasgow.

A boy stares into the devastation caused by Super Storm Yasa in Fiji in January 2020. Photo credit: Justin Naisua

Along with fellow climate activists across the Pacific, Mr Seru wants COP26 to chart better climate financing pathways that ensure the communities at the very front line of climate change benefit from more accessible funding.

‘The burden right now is on Pacific Islanders.’

‘We know, we have seen from science, the increasing threat posed by climate change and humanity’s role in causing it, we’ve seen the IPCC latest assessment report. In order for our communities to adapt to some of the worst climate impacts in our region, we actually need technical and financial support, because we do not have the kind of capacity to continuously be rebuilding after every cyclone,’ he said.

‘Right now, the burden is on taxpayers. The burden is on individuals themselves who have had to source their recovery funding from pensioner’s funds. The burden right now is on Pacific Islanders.’

He says there is a gap around climate finance that needs to be closed, and that world leaders at COP26 must ensure developed countries deliver the promised 100 billion dollars per year, a goal that was supposed to be reached in 2020.  

Anything less, Mr Seru insists, will mean Pacific communities will not be able to mitigate or effectively adapt to the changes global warming imposes on them. He said Pacific people face losing ancestral lands, and asks that leaders remember the displacement and relocation of whole communities in the Oceania region.

Storm surges have become increasingly frequent in the Pacific and are posing a serious threat to islanders’ way of life. Photo credit: Justin Naisua

Another key message is better operationalisation of agreements on loss and damage so ‘it is not only just about putting up a website […] but that it is also about financial resources and technical support because we can’t deny the fact that loss and damage is already at our doorstep.’

These are the key messages he is taking to COP26, which he is attending alongside other members of the Pacific Climate Action Network (PICAN).

Another activist attending COP26 as part of the PICAN delegation is Willy Missack, from the Vanuatu Climate Action Network.

Mr Missack is one of a handful of climate activists attending from Vanuatu who may be among his country’s only representatives at COP26 because his government has decided not to send a delegation.

This will be his fourth COP, but unlike previous times when he attended as part of his government’s negotiation team, he will be advocating instead as a civil society representative.

‘Ms Talemaimaleya hopes to build the capacity of other young Fijians to become agents of change’

‘This is the COP where we need to see actual achievement. We have to be real, we have to make stronger calls to action because this one is a benchmark, where there are specific things we must see.’

One of the ways Mr Missack hopes COP heads will choose to address climate change is by acknowledging traditional knowledge when it designs support programmes for climate-adaptive infrastructure in the Pacific.

While he acknowledges the need to develop new ideas and harness modern technology, he recommends that development policies also consider indigenous approaches to mitigating climate change including, for example, through the conservation and restoration of forests, mangroves and coral reefs.

‘When these bodies of traditional knowledge are supported and when the perspective of indigenous people are taken into account, to some extent, it holds more value to the communities.’

Unlike Mr Missack and Mr Seru, Adi Davila Talemaimaleya is attending a COP for the very first time as the Pacific representative of the Sustainable Oceans Alliance, an organisation that trains young leaders to advocate for ocean conservation. 

A recent graduate of the University of the South Pacific’s Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change, Ms Talemaimaleya hopes to build the capacity of other young Fijians to become agents of change. She hopes that one day the health of the world’s oceans will be a priority for the international community. 

As a Pacific youth representative at COP26, she’s acutely aware of the lack of young Pacific Islanders who will be attending.

‘There’s not a lot of Pacific youth represented at this COP, so it’s an honour and a privilege to attend and engage. It won’t only be in the [civil society] space that I’ll be looking to engage [….] I hope to engage with high level [government] delegates.’

Ms Talemaimaleya has volunteered to moderate and facilitate panel discussions and speaking events that COP negotiators may be present at so she can appeal for more bold action.

‘The main thing that I will tell people is how important urgent and bold climate action is for our Pacific Island countries because, in the Pacific, our islands are already sinking’, she said.

‘It’s already here and we can already see it with our own eyes. In Fiji, it’s about more intense frequent tropical cyclones. In other places, its sea level rises and frequent storm surges. We have some people who still don’t believe that climate change is real.’

‘I think being in that space and that platform to be able to share our realities and to share our experiences, that’s something that is needed for people to really believe what is happening here.’

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Glasgow, Scotland until 12 November 2021.

Reporting by Lice Movono and photography by Justin Naisua.

Caribbean priorities for COP26: adaptation, mitigation and access to finance

Posted on by Aurora Herrera

The Caribbean population has been experiencing the effects of increasing global temperatures for decades. Government and civil society experts have been asking for the resources to adapt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate, but global funding mechanisms have not been effective.

Now the latest International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has underscored the gravity of the situation, many Caribbean countries hope that the plight of the most vulnerable states will be at the forefront of the upcoming climate negotiations in Glasgow.

‘1.5 to stay alive’: compensating loss and damage

According to the IPCC’s 2018 report, warming is occurring at 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade. At this rate, 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming may occur as soon as the year 2030— much faster than original predictions.

Professor Michael Taylor, a leading Caribbean climate scientist based at the University of the West Indies, said: ‘For the Caribbean, 1.5 is a matter of life and death. After 1.5, there is actually a shift in rainfall patterns, the region moves from marginally wet to dry in the long term. Loss and damage become a significant issue the more you go above 1.5.’

‘In Jamaica, just this year alone, we have had three major flooding events in the last four months, each costing the government upward of 100 million Jamaican dollars (US$675,000). Where is the government to find 100 million? And wasn’t that money earmarked to deal with education or Covid-19 or health? That’s the real cost of climate change.’

Dr Adelle Thomas, renowned Climate Scientist and a Lead Author of the latest IPCC Report, is also a strong advocate of making loss and damage a principal issue for COP26 and beyond.

‘At the international scale, loss and damage has been pushed to the sidelines,’ she said.

‘I did a paper looking at policies and mechanisms in SIDS [small island developing states] to see if we have things in place to assess loss and damage, and we largely don’t. Without having an understanding of [the scale of] loss and damage, it’s hard to say, “I need this support.”’

‘We need funding for loss and damage which is separate from the annual US$100 billion that was promised. I hope that we can get the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage operationalised [at COP26] and start helping countries.’

While efforts at adaptation and mitigation began in the Caribbean in the 1990s with financial support from the Global Environment Facility, ensuring continued access to technical and financial resources has been challenging for the region.

‘Where is the government to find 100 million? And wasn’t that money earmarked to deal with education or Covid-19 or health? That’s the real cost of climate change.’ – Professor Michael Taylor

Dr Ulric Trotz, Former Deputy Director and Science Advisor at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre in Belize, described one such challenge: ‘Since 2015 we put in a proposal to support extending efforts at coral reef restoration in the Caribbean and up to now we have not had any agreement about supporting that,’ he said. ‘That is now six years ago. We have wasted six years and you are seeing increased bleaching of our reefs, increased degradation.’

He is right to be worried. Among many other effects, warming of 1.5 degrees will lead to the destruction of 70-90% of coral reefs globally. In the Caribbean, as elsewhere in the world, coral reefs provide shoreline replenishment and protection, are a major draw for tourism, and serve as critical habitats for local fisheries on which many coastal residents depend.

Dr Trotz also pointed out the failure of the international community over the last decade to keep up commitments from the Cancun Conference in 2010.

‘We were promised in Cancun that the international community would mobilise US$100 billion a year by 2020 for financing adaptation responses across developing counties […] but there is nowhere near the level of investment promised.’

There’s also widespread concern in the Caribbean that the countries most responsible for global warming are not honouring their commitments to reduce emissions and provide the necessary finance.

The Caribbean region in its entirety is responsible for less than 1% of global emissions while the United States contributes approximately 24% at a higher per capita rate. China has now pulled ahead of the United States in total global emissions: last year it built more than three times as much coal-fired capacity as the rest of the world combined.

‘When it comes to climate commitments in the Caribbean, I think that question needs to be turned on its head,’ Dr Thomas commented. ‘We need to ask, “is the developed world adhering to their climate commitments?” They are the big emitters, they are the ones that are supposed to be providing finance for us to be able to adapt, and they are not.’

‘To expect small developing countries to adhere […] without any support, while we are trying to manage impacts of climate change that are already happening now and also having to cope with things like this global pandemic, which has decimated our economies that [rely] on tourism—it’s an impossible situation while also trying to develop.’

Caribbean commitments and progression

All signatories to the Paris Agreement, including 14 Caribbean territories, have strict emission reduction targets known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

Trinidad and Tobago, for example, must reduce cumulative emissions from the three main emitting sectors by 15% by 2030, while public transportation emissions must be cut by 30% as compared to a business as usual scenario.

However, to reach this level of compliance, poorer countries need access to the resources necessary for adaptation and mitigation.

The estimated cost of implementation for Trinidad and Tobago is USD $2 billion, which is expected to be met through a mix of domestic funding and international climate financing, including through the Green Climate Fund.

‘If it’s not coming from the government, then we need to start doing things ourselves.’ – Dr Adelle Thomas

Kishan Kumarsingh, Head of Multilateral Environmental Agreements at the Ministry of Planning and Development, acknowledged that ‘The commitment made by Trinidad and Tobago is a very ambitious one in light of our national circumstances and the peculiar challenges we face as a small island developing state.’

Despite this, Trinidad and Tobago has set up a region-leading system to monitor emissions, and other Caribbean countries are now looking to them for guidance on the process.

The Bahamas, which, like Trinidad and Tobago, ratified the UNFCCC in 1994 and signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, has committed to achieving its mitigation contribution through an economy-wide reduction of greenhouse gas emission of 30% by 2030.

Thus far, Bahamian efforts include the expansion of the marine protected areas from 2 million acres to more than 13 million acres, surpassing national targets.

However, Dr Thomas, a Bahamian, feels that climate change is still not a top priority for the country.

‘Climate change is way down on our agenda of things we are interested in, even though we are highly vulnerable’ she said. ‘There is poverty, there is Covid-19 …  [Hurricane] Dorian came through and that completely destroyed everything and we had to focus on rebuilding so there are lots of other development issues, and climate change doesn’t get as much attention.’

The role of civil society

Dr Thomas believes participation from civil society organisations is critical in the fight against climate change.

‘Civil society really needs to hold government to account, to speak up when there are things happening that are not bringing climate change resiliency into bearing’, Dr Thomas said. ‘They need to be the ones to say this project is not a good project, this project is going to make us more vulnerable to climate change.’

‘In the Bahamas, we are still going after cruise ships, digging up the ocean to put in a cruise ship port—we cannot continue [like] this, we are going to see the negative impacts of that within our lifetime.’

Dr Thomas also advocates for the role of CSOs in community-based projects and top-down adaptation relief, saying that they are key in organising and reaching the community to reduce their vulnerability: ‘If it’s not coming from the government, then we need to start doing things ourselves.’

IAMovement, a Trinidadian organisation that was formed in 2014, has recently embarked on a Caribbean-wide mitigation and adaptation project led by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture. Grassroots4LaVie, as it is known, will utilise vetiver grass and the vetiver system, a unique ‘green’ infrastructure technology that assists with slope stabilisation, erosion control and soil and water conservation.

‘I hope that the growing citizen awareness and pressure globally and realities outlined in the sixth IPCC Climate Report will help to force decisions and agreements to be made at COP26′ – Jonathan Barcant

Jonathan Barcant, an engineer and co-founder of IAMovement, is overseeing training and implementation for the project alongside local NGO partners across Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. He has also been advocating for action on climate change issues within Trinidad and Tobago through marches and community and policy work.

‘Frankly, if we look at the long historical record of knowledge about climate change and lack of action on climate, traditional leadership has failed miserably and I believe may one day be held accountable for it. We are now at a time which is pivotal to the future of mankind and our planet.’

Barcant believes that action on climate change will not happen without the active engagement of citizens.

‘I hope that the growing citizen awareness and pressure globally and realities outlined in the sixth IPCC Climate Report will help to force decisions and agreements to be made at COP26 which are long overdue, and which can play an important role in supporting and determining the levels of security and comfort which our future generations will face.’

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference will take place in Glasgow, Scotland, between 31 October and 12 November 2021.

Reporting by Aurora Herrera.

Why study the Commonwealth in the 21st Century?

Posted on by David Salmon

Some argue that studying the Commonwealth is no longer worthwhile, a viewpoint that is emblematic of a larger discussion surrounding the Commonwealth and its purpose in the 21st century.

This debate came to a head in October 2020 when a proposal was put forward to close the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. After considerable public reaction, a committee was assembled, led by former UK Foreign Secretary Sir Malcom Rifkind, to discuss the future of Commonwealth studies and of the Institute. I joined a public discussion on the issue organised by three members of the of the Committee representing the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

The Committee’s report was released in early August. In receiving the report, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of London affirmed that the main recommendation would be accepted: the Institute of Commonwealth Studies will survive. This is good news for those of us that believe that the Commonwealth has an important role to play in global affairs.

The Committee’s report alights upon many of the reasons why studying the world through a Commonwealth lens is important. For example, the report emphasizes the role that Commonwealth Studies can play in the climate change discussion and in facilitating the next generation of thought leaders. It also recommends that Commonwealth Studies can be expanded from its traditional base and be a ‘think-tank type generator of new ideas for the modern Commonwealth.’ This approach best facilitates robust discussion and partnership among fellow Commonwealth institutions, member states and the wider societies that they benefit.

‘The Institute has a role to play in finding common solutions to questions of sustainable development, climate change and good governance.’

I would like to offer some additional points of emphasis. In particular, I believe the Institute has a role to play in providing what I term ‘intellectual reparations’ (exploring historical injustices and ways to address them) as well as in finding common solutions to questions of sustainable development, climate change and good governance.

Intellectual reparations

The Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London has facilitated conversations and research on a range of present-day and historical injustices not spoken about enough by the international community. This process of self-reflection has focussed on tackling the British Empire’s legacy of exploitation and brutality, acknowledging that the Commonwealth has a special role to play in this work.

To further this work, citizens of developing countries in the Commonwealth should be permitted greater access to the Institute’s expansive libraries and special collections—so they can also analyse the past and present in order to build a better future.

Facilitating opportunities for academics from the Global South

Providing educational opportunities through research fellowships is another avenue to increase knowledge acquisition between Commonwealth Member States and peoples. International journals such as The Round Table also have a role to play and can be used to encourage the growth of Commonwealth scholars by providing a global platform for their research. More schemes of this kind will ensure that citizens from diverse backgrounds can contribute to research and the advancement of Commonwealth
values.

Promoting multilingualism

Currently, concerns exist surrounding the dominance of the English language in the Commonwealth. The organisation’s diverse membership allows for greater promotion of multilingualism and research in indigenous languages and cultures. Even though there are some notable qualities that unite the Commonwealth family—similar institutions of governance, shared values and history—it is through the celebration of our diversity that we can derive strength and better ideas.

‘It is through the celebration of our diversity that we can derive strength and better ideas.’

Academic collaboration to support nation building

Possibilities for collaboration between academic institutions throughout the Commonwealth exist in many subject areas including economics, governance, and cultural studies. There is a practical advantage to Commonwealth collaboration in these areas, arising from similar governance, legal, and financial systems.

Trade is one such area that deserves further research due to the possibilities that exist for economic development. For instance, it has been noted that inter-Commonwealth trade is 19% cheaper than trade outside of the Commonwealth. Given the plethora of large and emerging markets in the Commonwealth, such as India, Pakistan and Nigeria, there are significant opportunities for development and growth which must be better understood.

Developing a common agenda on the international stage

Examining how inter-governmental relationships can be strengthened and equalised is vital, especially when developed and developing nations are brought together under a common banner.

There are also unexploited opportunities for developing a Commonwealth consensus on major issues in international fora, whether it be the United Nations General Assembly or the Conference of the Parties (COP).

‘There are also unexploited opportunities for developing a Commonwealth consensus on major issues in international fora’

At present, Small Island States make up almost half of total Commonwealth Membership. The Commonwealth represents one of the longest standing groupings of these nations and is well positioned to further their common agenda, most notably on climate change but also on rules governing the tourism and agricultural sectors that tend to dominate small island economies.

Any research institute focussed on the Commonwealth should explore how this unique network of countries can leverage its collective strength more effectively.

David Salmon is a journalist and a member of the Youth Advisory Council to the Jamaican government.

Concerned about the Climate Crisis? Add your voice here

Posted on by Commonwealth Foundation

We want to include as many of you as possible in making video recordings of the spoken word poem Global Line Up, by renowned Pacific poet Karlo Mila. We are particularly keen to receive videos from people under the age of 26.

The poem will be presented as a part of the Commonwealth Foundation’s forthcoming Critical Conversation: Small Island States and Climate Justice: Looking ahead to COP26.

All you have to do is record yourself reading the poem, or a section of the poem, and send the video to us. We will pay a fee to all those whose videos feature in the event.

This Critical Conversation is a call to arms. It will bring together activists, thought leaders, and policymakers to confront the challenges and opportunities ahead, most especially in relation to small islands states. It will interrogate the role that the Commonwealth could play — should play — in placing the needs of this group of States front and centre in international negotiations.

As the world enters a critical decade for our climate, Commonwealth Member States and institutions must come together: demonstrating a united front and decisive leadership at the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November — COP26.

Global Line Up will be shared online and is the opportunity for many voices around the Commonwealth to become one in solidarity, to demand that not only words are spoken at COP26 but that actions are taken.

Please email or file transfer your video recordings by 16 August to writers@commonwealth.int.

Open Call: Video Technical Guidelines Poem: Global Line Up

 

Towards common ground

Posted on by Lisa Rapley

It was an unseasonably hot humid day in the stunning Scenic Rim, Queensland, Australia, also known as Mununjahli and Bundjalung Country by the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of the land.

The mountains were kissing the sky in the distance and there was not a cloud to be seen. Heat was radiating off the ground. I was walking past my totem tree: a flame tree, blooming with vivid scarlet red flowers. I was on my way to the local shops to avoid the heat and rehydrate. I stopped and looked in awe, my feet connecting with the hot earth beneath. It struck me that it was the wrong time of the year for the flame tree to flower. Indigenous Australians have been stewards of this land for thousands of years; knowledge passed down, through countless generations, would suggest that something was profoundly wrong.

I turned and walked into the cool of the shops. As soon as I entered—dressed in my Aboriginal art singlet and flip flops—I felt eyes on me. Shrugging off this feeling I continued to walk the aisles but I couldn’t help noticing an employee behind me, following. I turned the corner and, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the employee again. Feeling uncomfortable I grabbed some water and headed for the checkout. This never happens when I wear non-Indigenous identifying clothes, I thought.

Heading back to my car, shoes off and walking on the grass, I noticed a group of Aboriginal Elders sitting upright under the flame tree, peaceful, silent, but nonetheless being questioned by police. Yet in view of the police, a group of non-indigenous people were drinking alcohol and littering. Why did the police not choose to speak to them?

I shook my head and left. This experience is sadly not uncommon; it is one that has been spoken about publicly by many indigenous Australians including Steven Oliver, Melanie Mununggurr-Williams and Meyne Wyatt.

‘We tend to notice the reality of exclusion bubbling under the surface of mainstream consciousness only when a tragedy is filmed and tensions explode’

Nor is it an experience that is unique to Aboriginal Australians. First Nations people across the globe fall victim to misunderstanding and isolation, not to mention poverty, short life expectancy and imprisonment. We tend to notice the reality of exclusion bubbling under the surface of mainstream consciousness only when a tragedy is filmed and tensions explode as they did in the fallout from the George Floyd tragedy and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, or, in the Australian context, the now politicised ‘change the date’ debate for Australia Day, currently held on the 26 January—the day that Indigenous Australia changed forever and our lands were taken forcefully and declared Terra Nullius.

So why do Indigenous peoples continue to face these abiding challenges? It’s important to look at root causes. Indigenous peoples have faced varying levels of settlement and colonisation by imperial powers throughout history. Western cultural world views, for example, are very different to the Indigenous world views they have tended to dominate, especially around the areas of individualism vs community orientation and holistic thinking vs technological and scientific thinking. As our thinking can often contradict western views, we have been relegated as a psychological out-group. This has led to pervasive, intergenerational misconceptions that Indigenous people are somehow less intelligent and less human than their non-Indigenous counterparts—and more deserving of suspicion. Most of this thinking is unconscious and has seeped into the fabric of our political and social systems. It has also played havoc on the way we relate to ourselves, each other, and our environment.

In order to move forward, we must acknowledge that Indigenous knowledge systems have much to share.

Indigenous Australians have the longest surviving continuous culture in the world, and most of the unspoilt natural environment in Australia is Indigenous-owned land: as a beacon of sustainability we should stand tall and proud.

This brings me to our shared now—and the imperative to find common ground with each other to live and prosper in harmony. Deep down I believe that we all want the same thing—a happy and equitable community of people on a safe and healthy planet—we just have different beliefs on how to get there.

‘Indigenous Australians have the longest surviving continuous culture in the world, and most of the unspoilt natural environment is Indigenous-owned land.’

To borrow from activist Alice Eather: let’s sit around a metaphorical fire—in a circle—and decide on a path that promotes equity and prosperity. In this spirit, I invite you to read the table below and see how differing outlooks on the world can merge to create a more sustainable and just tomorrow; not just for the indigenous people of the world, but for everyone.

Key Assumptions Indigenous
(Ecocentrism)		 Western
(Technocentrism)		 Working Together Towards Equity & Sustainability
Ontological and ethical
Metaphor of Earth Mother/web of life Vast machine Life support system
Perception of Earth Alive/sensitive Dead/passive Home/managed
System composition Organic/wholes Atomistic/parts Parts and wholes
System structure Heterarchical Hierarchical Holoarchical
Human role Plain member Domination Stewardship
Scientific and technological
Resilience of nature Highly vulnerable Tough/robust Varied/fragile
Carrying capacity limits Already exceeded No limits Approaching
Population size Freeze/reduce No problem Stabilise soon
Risk orientation Risk aversion Risk-taking Precaution
Faith in technology Pessimism Optimism Scepticism
Economic and psychological
Primary objective Ecological integrity Efficient allocation Quality of life
The good life Antimaterialism Materialism Postmaterialism
Human nature Homo animalist Homo economicus Homo sapien
Economic structure Steady-state Free market Green economy
Role of growth Bad/eliminate Good/necessary Mixed/modify
*Table 1 is adapted from Gladwin et al’s (1995:993) Paradigm framework and their constituent assumptions as sighted in appendix 1, page 40, Barter, N & Bebbington, J (2011), Pursuing Environmental Sustainability, University of St Andrews. Please note that these categories are generalised for illustration purposes and may not apply to all people within each category.

What more can the Commonwealth institutions and members states do to learn about First Nations’ world views, and promote cultural capability between non-Indigenous and Indigenous peoples? I suggest starting with these practical steps:

  • Build your organisation’s knowledge of First Nations’ history, culture and world views
  • Provide a platform for Indigenous voices at events hosted by your organisation
  • Fund development and growth opportunities for Indigenous people and include them in the design of such programmes
  • Monitor and report on your cultural capability progress.

These steps are not exhaustive, but they are a great start—let’s continue to walk together towards a more equitable and sustainable future.

Lisa Rapley is a social entrepreneur and co-founder of Yuludarla Karulbo.

A clarion call for Commonwealth solidarity

Posted on by Renwick Rose

How does a small island state, already suffering from the havoc caused by Covid-19, recover from volcanic eruptions that pushed plumes of dark ash 6km into the sky and forced the evacuation of almost 20% of its population?

That is the billion-dollar question facing the government and the approximately 110,000 residents of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Since early 2020, Covid-19 has virtually eliminated tourism in the country; its main foreign exchange earner and a major source of employment.

Just as it began rolling out its vaccination programme, the country’s active volcano, La Soufriere, erupted into a series of violent explosions lasting for almost two weeks. Though the explosions have subsided since 22 April, ongoing volcanic emissions continue to create mudflows and lahars, a mixture of water and pyroclastic debris which, combined with the voluminous ash spewed by the eruptions, make the fertile northern section of the island uninhabitable.

The current eruption is the third one to strike the country in the last half a century but is far larger and more destructive than those of 1971 and 1979. They confirm the ongoing active status of the volcano which also exploded violently in colonial times. The devastating fallout from the eruptions of 1812 and 1902 are a reminder of the enduring threat with which Vincentians must live.

‘How does one strictly enforce social distancing in evacuation centres?’

St Vincent and the Grenadines does not have the resources and facilities to host evacuees at scale without severe disruption to social life. As a result, thousands are currently being housed in schools, community centres and churches. The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO), with the aid of local, regional and international assistance, has made heroic efforts to house, feed and ensure the well-being and safety of the evacuees along with the countless volunteers who have begun hosting evacuees in their own homes.

This mass evacuation could not have come at a worse time. How does one strictly enforce social distancing in evacuation centres? How can the centres adhere to hygiene protocols when the national water supply system, fed from rivers emanating mainly from the Soufriere foothills, has been severely disrupted?

This eruption has compounded the challenges of Covid-19 and represents a major setback to a country that, until now, has been recording success in its effort to attain the global sustainable development goals. Take education as an example. The sector has been dealt a heavy blow by Covid-19 and after missing the first term of 2021, schools were due to be reopened on 12 April. The volcano struck on 9 April. Now schools are housing evacuees at a time when local and regional examinations are due.

‘The cost of damage stands at a staggering 36% of GDP—a figure that will rise substantially’

The preliminary estimates of the damage paint a grim picture in a country with a total Gross Domestic Product in 2019 of 824.7 million USD. The cost of cleaning up volcanic ash, mudflows and lahars has already surpassed $38 million; five thousand buildings have been damaged at an estimated cost of $35 million; agricultural and forestry losses are estimated at $225 million. The total cost of damage to the local environment and public infrastructure is being assessed but even if we leave those vast sums aside, the cost of damage, so far understood, stands at a staggering 36% of GDP—a figure that will rise substantially.

All this for a national economy that—as estimated by the Ministry of Finance—will contract by about 5-8% in 2021. This follows a 5% contraction occasioned by Covid-19 last year.

The challenges are huge, not only in economic but also in social terms. Children are particularly hard-hit. The forced closure of schools over the past year has disrupted education but above all, it has created tremendous psycho-social problems for children and young people forced to curtail education, sporting and recreational activities. Unemployment has skyrocketed. Food self-sufficiency, a point of national pride, is now fundamentally threatened and mass evacuation has given rise to new fears regarding the spread of Covid-19.

‘Now is the time to demonstrate the power of international solidarity. The Commonwealth can lead the way.’

This situation is one that this proud nation cannot handle alone. The Commonwealth and the international community can help meet the needs of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines in the following three ways:

  1. Supporting the rehabilitation and reconstruction process with special emphasis on resilience to safeguard communities in at-risk areas
  2. Partnering with Government and civil society organisations in ongoing relief and humanitarian efforts
  3. Long-term funding to build the capacity of regional organisations that work in disaster preparedness such as the Seismic Research Centre of the University of the West Indies (UWI) to establish a state of the art volcano monitoring system

In this, the Commonwealth, both at an institutional level, including the Commonwealth Foundation through its civil society partners, and through Member States, can play an important part. Now is the time to demonstrate the power of international solidarity. The Commonwealth can lead the way.

Renwick Rose is a journalist and coordinator and CEO of the Windward Islands Farmers Association.