Letter to the Editor-Climate change, a problem of transnational nature |04 September 2004

I note from your article that Environment principal secretary Rolph Payet, while opening the meeting, said: “With larger countries almost assured of getting a significant chunk of the fund, it was best for Seychelles to submit initial adaptation projects early.”

The problem of climate change is not solely the problem of a Nation State – it is indeed a problem of a transnational nature. Whilst Seychelles constitute a group of small islands, with a relatively small physical land mass, we still cannot be regarded as a “small country” in the context of climate change.

As I once pointed out, no country is small if it is surrounded by the sea. Furthermore, our 100+ islands are certainly scattered over a very wide surface of the Western Indian Ocean. I trust, therefore, that our representatives aggressively and enthusiastically espouse this approach when dealing with the United Nations, the UNDP and other international bodies in the quest for sufficient funding to fight the ongoing menace.

James R. Mancham