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Privilege is something that cannot be taken but only given
About this event: U.N. Climate Change Conference 2007
Related to country: Indonesia

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

As someone who was born in one of the most developed countries of the world (Canada) and one of the most beautiful provinces in that country (Prince Edward Island), I am starting to understand the responsibilities that go along with such a privilege.

A few years ago I had an opportunity to live for a short time in the rural community of Los Cacaos, Dominican Republic. My experience working with farmers and community members at “Los Espranza” (which is Spanish for hope), a Fair Trade coffee collective, provided me many educational experiences that really changed the way I viewed myself in the world. While the differences in history and culture are profound, there were many other similarities between the rural community of St. Peter’s Bay where I grew up, and Los Cacaos. As island communities, there is in each case a strong awareness of the relationship between the ecology of the place and the survival of its inhabitants.

For the past few months I have been managing an United Nations Development Programme youth climate change publication in England, United Kingdom and today I am writing this in reflection on my experience in Bali, Indonesia, where I attended the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with the Canadian Youth Delegation. These experiences have once again prompted me to think about the responsibility that comes with privilege.

This fall, Hurricane Noel devastated the community of Los Cacaos as it passed through the Dominican Republic leaving in its exit 637 homes totally damaged and 436 homes damaged. With the majority of inhabitants of the community relying on coffee production there was 90% of coffee farms destroyed, 100% of the community water and electrical system destroyed. The main roads were 95% destroyed, 90% of secondary roads destroyed with 100% of bridges being destroyed. With all of the destruction that Los Cacaos has seen there has been 100% absence of government assistance.

In contrast, in Prince Edward Island, Hurricane Juan is not too far from our memory.
The privilege of living in a developed country is very noticeable when, as in the case of Hurricane Juan, we can reconstruct and recover in almost the same amount of time as it takes for the weather pattern to pass through. This would not be imaginable in less developed countries where damage such as that caused by Hurricane Noel in Los Cacaos takes decades to correct - for rebuilding and reconstruction to achieve even the modest standards of living which was present prior to the hurricane.

It is imperative that the Canadian government take leadership on addressing this global concern on climate change, while our government’s actions so far through out the Conference of Parties 13 has been far from impressive. Being born in the province where our country was formed I have always felt proud of my country but without true leadership on this issue at this point of time we are putting to risk the future generations of the world.

December 31, 2007 | 4:21 AM Comments  0 comments

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