UN & CDB Collaborate to Address Triple Crisis In Food, Energy & Finance

As Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDs) continue to grapple with the pervasive socio-economic impacts of the COVID crisis, the United Nations and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have joined forces to tackle the Triple Crisis in Food, Energy and Finance, that threatens to further destabilize prospects for the region’s long-term sustainable development.

A high-level Roundtable discussion convened on the theme: “Addressing the Triple Crisis in Food, Energy and Finance for the Eastern Caribbean: International experiences and policy implications for the region”, is the first of a series to steps being taken to discuss the impact of the triple crisis and to identify strategies and appropriate policy response. The hybrid event hosted at UN House, brought together leading experts from Governments, development partners, regional institutions, International Financial Institutions, and the United Nations, to ensure a unified approach and joined up resources  to tackling the crisis.

Russia-Ukraine conflict exacerbating SIDS socio-economic challenges

Delivering Opening Remarks to the forum, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Didier Trebucq, noted that the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the disruption in fossil fuel exports from Russia, has had an undeniable impact on the world economy, particularly that of Caribbean SIDS, coming on the heels of the pandemic-induced socio-economic crisis, and multiple natural disasters resulting from climate change.

“As a consequence, Caribbean countries, like many across the globe, are witnessing increases in fuel costs and consequently consumer prices across critical goods and services such as, fertilizers, agriculture feedstock, transportation, and food, with the harshest impact being felt by low-income households. More specifically, the impact of the increases in fuel and food prices has reduced access to food for poorer households,” the UN head stated, referencing the concomitant impact on the region’s sustainable development," he stated. 

Mr. Trebucq cited findings from a recent CARICOM and World Food Programme Survey which estimates that 57 percent of the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean are food insecure, as well as reports from the UN Global Crisis Response Group of Food, Fuel and Finance which forecasts that between 179 million and 181 million people will face food crisis or worse conditions in 2022.  He expressed the hope that the talks would result in micro and macro level multi-disciplinary solutions, that encompass production techniques, investment in transportation, strengthening financial institutional frameworks, health, education, and community development among other sectors. 

“Most importantly, it is my hope that the outcomes today result in clear and concise steps to mitigate as much as possible the impact of the triple crisis on regional economies - both to protect the most vulnerable groups and maintain efforts towards greater resilience in all forms,” he added while observing, “Triple Crises serve to undermine development gains and threaten national and regional progress toward all the SDGs, and more specifically SDGs 1, 2, 3 and 7, in relation to building the resilience of the poor, ensuring access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food, ensuring healthy lives and  ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy.”

Ingenuity and creativity can enable the region to meet immense challenges

Also addressing the Opening Session, Caribbean Development Bank President, Dr Hyginus “Gene” Leon expressed the hope that the forum would create new pathways for deepening relationships across the region and for generating high impact projects that could change the development trajectory of the Caribbean and benefit citizens. “Our needs are immense, but I believe that our unbounded ingenuity and creativity can enable us to meet any challenge,” he underlined.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic represented an unprecedented shock to the economic and social landscape of regional economies, contributing to deep fiscal imbalances and rising debt, Dr. Leon observed that while regional economies have started to recover, they continue to be hampered by the adverse effects of climate change, global inflationary pressures, and curtailed access to critical commodities, at a time when Governments have fewer financial resources for infrastructure and social investment. The CDB principal, therefore, lauded the developing partnership between his organization and the UN, which was “bearing fruit” less than one-month following the signing of a Letter of Intent to strengthen cooperation in key areas of mutual interest.

“While the pathway to the 2030 Agenda remains challenging, establishing strategic partnerships is critical. This is why CDB welcomes this Roundtable as it will bring together various interests which have the potential to combine resources for maximum impact.  This level of collaboration can extend the reach of our individual organisations to neutralize common threats and accelerate the achievement of targeted social, environmental, and economic outcomes. Given the magnitude of the challenge ahead, leveraging our joint capacity to support the achievement of the SDGs is not only prudent, but necessary at this time."

Dr. Leon also emphasized the need to have “resilience “at the core of the current deliberations, to devise holistic solutions to not only address the current crisis, but to reposition regional economies to better absorb future shocks with minimum dislocation for our people, communities, and organisations.

Hon. Minister Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry & Labour, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Hon. Dr. Vince Henderson, Dominica's Minister for Planning, Economic Development, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Renewable Energy, were among regional leaders, UN Heads of Agencies and other technical specialists participating in the forum.

Discussions were centred around three main sessions: (i) Addressing the impact of the food crisis on households: Reducing food insecurity and strengthening agricultural systems and (ii) Managing the energy crisis towards a green and just transition: Country experiences and policy gaps. These were followed by a wrap up session entitled: Towards an integrated response: Defining collective responses. Each session featured a moderator, technical discussants and roundtable participant dialogues. 

Next Steps

The main objectives of the meeting were to: (i) Review the impact of the crisis in the Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean and discuss ongoing responses; (ii) Advocate for an increased focus on those furthest behind and protect the most vulnerable; (iii) Identify integrated policy responses aligned with needs, regional and national priorities and evolving conditions, and (iv) Build synergies between the UN Response strategy and development partners/ international financial institutions to jointly support countries in the region. Coming out of these discussions, under the leadership of governments, the UN system in partnership with other national and international development partners, intends to prepare a compendium of policy and programme responses proposing potential areas for action by all stakeholders, and  identify existing mechanisms and/or platforms that can be leveraged in the near future towards better integrating efforts for crisis response.

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