It’s always been my burden. No matter how many opinions and warnings to the contrary. Irrespective of the seniority or qualification of the individual issuing the warning. While others run away from a crisis, committing to the opposite direction, in search of safety and higher ground, I’ve always been attracted to the frontline. The appeal of discovering little known information and sharing that knowledge widely with others compelled me to move my family to the Middle East 15 years ago.
While others run away from a crisis, committing to the opposite direction, in search of safety and higher ground, I’ve always been attracted to the frontline.
It was the height of military intervention in the region, with the US at the helm backed by many European allies and regional friends who continue to understate their role in chaos. The privilege of observing the world without the London lens where I began my journalism career gave me an opportunity to challenge the status quo in a productive way. By prioritizing issues, individuals and ideas from the Global South we established a new business model which continues to attract imitators as a new generation of storytellers seeks to find their voice. Far from the politics and propaganda of justifying military intervention in the name of democracy, I’m now stationed on the frontline of climate change.
World leaders expect the latest IPCC report to force new policy measures, shifting the global economy to a low-carbon footing. Governments from 197 countries will meet in Glasgow in November for the COP26 summit led by the UN. Each nation is asked to present new plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a level that will limit global heating in line with the Paris climate agreement. UN Secretary General António Guterres, warned: “[This report] is a code red for humanity. The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.”
In August, the world’s leading authority on climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminded us that the time is now for urgent action. The much anticipated report found that human activity was unequivocally the cause of rapid changes to the climate, including sea level rises, melting polar ice and glaciers, heatwaves, floods and droughts. The comprehensive study has been eight years in the making, draws on expertise from hundreds of experts, peer-reviewed studies and represents the world’s full knowledge to date of the physical basis of climate change. Importantly it confirms the main goal set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global heating to no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is still possible.
For Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Caribbean, climate change was identified as the most pressing challenge long before the Paris accords. Comprehensive historical data on climate-related migration and loss of earnings is hard to come by. However, record keeping has improved in recent years. In Jamaica, losses from climate-related disasters cost $150 billion last year and are expected to rise in future. Across the region of 44 million people, the effects of soil erosion are evident in all aspects of daily life from increased siltation of rivers and reservoirs, to increased marine and coastal contamination and degradation to reduced water quality and quantity. The Caribbean is at risk from more intense hurricanes, rising sea levels and a drying trend, all resulting in loss of lives, property, roads and crops.
The Caribbean is at risk from more intense hurricanes, rising sea levels and a drying trend, all resulting in loss of lives, property, roads and crops.
Jamaica has become the first Caribbean nation to submit a tougher climate action plan under the Paris Agreement by adding targets for forestry and stepping up curbs on greenhouse gas emissions from energy. The UK will host the next UN climate summit in November 2021 after the Pandemic delayed the meeting by a year. Una May Gordon, director of the climate change division at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation says; “There is an expectation, that greater effort will be made by the big emitters since as small islands we are making this effort.”Globally, Jamaica is the eleventh nation to submit an updated plan, or nationally determined contribution (NDC), at the five-year milestone of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The farmers we’re working with say they’re ready to make changes. Their major concern is the tools they have at their disposal, the techniques they’re using have been compared to taking a blunt knife to a gunfight. Sustainable land practices and use of organic matter is promoted to allow the Caribbean agricultural sector to better adapt to the new realities of soil erosion and excessive rainfall.
…the techniques they’re using have been compared to taking a blunt knife to a gunfight.
What our farmers really need is access to mechanized equipment and precision farming tools. Much like a decade ago when hard work, preparation and strategy forced new audiences to pay attention to my company’s disruptive international media brand. Today, I’m leading a team on the frontline of climate change working to give smallholder farmers access to artificial intelligence and machine learning to help them increase productivity, earn more money and improve the quality of their lives.
I am leading a team on the frontline of climate change working to give smallholder farmers access to artificial intelligence and machine learning to help them increase productivity, earn more money and improve the quality of their lives.
Kelly Silvera is CEO of Fawma, an AI firm working to connect entrepreneurs with markets and networks. She writes on issues of reparative justice and tech. Kelly advocates for opportunities through entrepreneurship..
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Monthly Newsletter | September 2021 | VOL. 3
- Featured Image: Tropical Storm Grace leaves behind a trail of destruction after making landfall in Jamaica on August 17, 2021
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