The second edition of the Earth Day Forum took place yesterday morning at the Hilton Hotel, where this year’s theme was “Climate Resilience” and was organized by the Ministry of Transportation, Infrastructure, Environment, and Senior Affairs, where various interest groups presented to hold discussions on climate change.
Last year, as Minister Ursell Arends explained, they celebrated this day on “Nature’s Right” day, where they presented the concept of a law on the same day, and this year they presented the National Climate Resilience Council, which is the platform that will address how Aruba needs to prepare for climate change in both the short and long term, and that’s what was presented yesterday.
It was also reported that his ministry, together with that of Communication, Economic Affairs, and Sustainable Development of Geoffrey Wever, and 13 partners in the community are financing a study conducted by an American institute, which will conduct a Climate and Ocean Risk Vulnerability Index Assessment (CORVI), which will provide more than 100 indicators and also 3,000 data points on how to deal with climate change. “Aruba needs to prepare itself, and apart from that, a partnership was announced with the International Panel on Deltas, Coastal Areas, and Islands (IPDC), a platform launched by the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands, Mark Harber, at the last United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) where Aruba is the champion for the entire Caribbean region.” He said.
Furthermore, it was brought forward that “we have taken a national approach, this is not only the government’s task but a shared responsibility, with both the private sector as well as NGOs, academia, and the public sector coming together so that we can address this issue as it affects each of us, and we all need to be prepared to see how we will address climate change on our island,” Minister Arends assured.
Also, he pointed out that last Sunday the public consultation on Nature’s Rights law ended, and now it has to continue its path where they need to work on the final concept so that it can be sent to the Advisory Council and then it can reach the Parliament of Aruba before the end of the year. “This is what we have achieved since last year’s first edition of the Earth Day Forum until now, certainly a one-year trajectory, but this is the first time we are going to make changes to our Constitution, and I believe it is appropriate to involve the entire community so that they know what the content of the law is, but also to give their input on what they want to see in the law,” he concluded.
