Prime Minister the Hon. Philip Davis led a delegation to the United Nation this week. While there Mr. Davis addressed climate change at a panel discussion on Thursday.

Mr. Davis told the group at the presentation of The Bahamas Blue Carbon Programme, ” The Bahamas contributes only a miniscule share of global greenhouse gas emissions yet, our communities, our coastlines, our fisheries, our livelihood, our tourism economy, our public finances and critical infrastructure face serious and extensive climate pressures every single year. We did not cause the crisis, but we are paying for it with our lives and livelihoods.”

The Prime Minister also spoke about the seagrass meadows in The Bahamas that store carbon and sustain marine life. He said the world must now recognize that value of that resource and the role The Bahamas can play in the global climate fight. “We will no longer her victims in our own story because vulnerability was never the whole truth about The Bahamas. Beneath the same waters that rise against us lies one of the great living treasures of this earth. Those seagrass meadows store and sequester carbon in the sea bed may sustain biodiversity. They feed our conchs, our crawfish, and with them our fisheries and our food security. They protect our coasts. They keep our waters clean and they keep our waters the color that astronauts remark upon from space,” Mr. Davis said.

The government intend to protect and measure the stored carbon and build a regulatory and scientific framework for participation in international carbon markets. Mr. Davis said, “we’re not announcing issued carbon credits for transfer. We are presenting a country that has enacted the laws, committed substantial resources, commenced unprecedented national-scale science and a country that has chosen to lead. The programme will remain anchored in Bahamian sovereignty, transparent implementation, credible scientific measurement, environmental integrity and tangible benefits for our people.”

The Prime Minister is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 25th.