Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley today sent a clear, but simple message of how each person can make a small contribution toward the battle against the climate crisis.
She joined British High Commissioner to Barbados, Scott Furssedonn-Wood, in planting two trees on the grounds of Ilaro Court, the Official Residence of the Prime Minister. While the Prime Minister planted a Custard Apple tree, the High Commissioner, assisted by his daughters, planted a Sugar Apple sapling.
Both officials noted that the decision to plant the trees was intended as a precursor to COP26, which begins in Scotland in a few days, and to send a message to the world that the climate crisis can be countered with tangible action, particularly by the industrialised countries that are contributing most to the problem.
While the High Commissioner stressed the importance of countries honouring their commitments to the rest of the world at the conference, highlighting the significant steps Barbados has already taken to eliminate the use of fossil fuels by 2030, Prime Minister Mottley warned that failure to act decisively would be catastrophic for small island nations like Barbados.
Mottley told the media: “We will go forward fighting but recognising as well that while we ask the world to step up to the plate, we have a duty to ourselves to step up to the plate in Barbados.
“Prior to COVID we had hoped to plant a million trees, but we had literally to put that aside because in a small island with limited resources, the same people are doing multiple things, and we now hope that next year we can get the tree planting going again…”