Speeches

Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor to address you on behalf of the Association of Caribbean States ACS. In 2022, the ACS, together with the Global Centre for Climate Mobility, launched the Greater Caribbean Climate Mobility Initiative, in cooperation with the World Bank and United Nations partners such as UNDP, UNDRR, UNFCCC, and IOM. This joint effort seeks to build a common regional approach to anticipate, plan for, and respond to the challenges of climate-induced mobility. This initiative reflects the mandate of the ACS, an intergovernmental organization that brings together 35 countries and territories of the Greater Caribbean. Our mission is to promote consultation, cooperation, and concerted action, with a special responsibility: to protect and sustainably develop our shared heritage, the Caribbean 
Sea. 

Since its creation, the ACS has been a space of regional solidarity, uniting the diversity of our languages, cultures, and histories into a collective voice for the resilience and aspirations of our peoples. As we gather today in New York for the Third Climate Mobility Summit, we reaffirm that the Greater Caribbean is on the frontline of the climate crisis. The Greater Caribbean is among the most climate-vulnerable regions, where storms, coastal erosion, and droughts make climate change a daily reality. The report presented today warns us that by 2050, up to 8.6 million people in our region could be forced to move as a result of climate impacts.
I wish to emphasize that mobility itself is not the problem; Mobility can be a legitimate strategy of adaptation, but only when it occurs under safe, planned, and dignified conditions. Rising seas, stronger storms, and degraded ecosystems increasingly force 
decisions without those guarantees. This places before us a major challenge: the need to plan for a reality that is growing in intensity. Without planning, climate mobility risks becoming a humanitarian crisis, deepening inequalities, straining governance, and jeopardizing development. With foresight, cooperation, and solidarity, however, mobility can become a pathway to adaptation and resilience. In this regard, the Report is a call to action. It places people at the center, reaffirming their right to remain but also their right to move with dignity when circumstances require it. From the perspective of the ACS, there are three elements essential for joint action :

The importance of people and the sea. The dignity of our populations is deeply connected to the health of our coasts and our sea. The communities that live in and care for these coastal and marine spaces are the most legitimate actors to ensure the sustainability of the Caribbean Sea. Protecting their rights and dignity is not only an ethical imperative, it is also the best way to safeguard the present and future of our shared heritage.
The importance of territorial balance. The future cannot mean that the urban absorbs the rural. We must ensure that cities are able to integrate populations on the move, while at the same time investing in the resilience of rural communities, which are the guardians of our ecosystems and our traditions.
The importance of cooperation and financing. No country can face this challenge alone. We need a regional framework of cooperation that transforms mobility into an opportunity for sustainable development, accompanied by financing mechanisms that enable anticipatory and inclusive action, with priority given to historically vulnerable populations.

Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, and friends, The Greater Caribbean has always been a region of journeys and encounters. Our peoples have found the wisdom to overcome historical challenges and, with creativity and resilience, to turn them into opportunities. Today, climate mobility represents a new challenge, one that we can only confront collectively. What matters is that this process be remembered as an effort of cooperation and dignity for our communities, as well as an example of adaptation, 
solidarity, and resilience. From the ACS, we reaffirm our commitment to continue strengthening alliances —with our Member States, with our partners, and with our communities— to transform climate mobility into an opportunity that enriches us and allows us to advance toward the sustainable development to which our region aspires. The Caribbean Sea that connects us reminds us each day that what unites us is stronger than what divides us. Let us navigate this time of change together, with the certainty that cooperation is our best compass.

Thank you very much.