Support Coming Fast and Furious: Joe Issa Suggests new Wave Could Build Greater Climate Change Resiliance in Caribbean

St Ann businessman and philanthropist Joe Issa, who misses few chances to raise awareness of the harsh reality of global warming, is upbeat about the recent wave of International testimonies, stating that perchance the Caribbean will get well-deserved attention, regarding building resilience to climate change.

Joseph “Joey” Issa

 “I am not a scientist, and I do not think you need to be one to accept that global warming is impacting the kinds of disasters we see today the world over and here in the Caribbean; the information is all over, and I mean from credible sources.

 “I am glad the scientific, economic and social development communities are turning up their belief that climate change is impacting all countries and are raising awareness of the critical importance of disaster mitigation initiatives for greater resilience.

“Sometimes what is said is not half as important as who said it. Either way, I think with so many scientists coming on board and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) supporting their claims, funding agencies will be more willing to listen and support disaster mitigation projects around the world especially in the Caribbean.

“As for our advocacy I don’t think we make enough of the fact that the Caribbean islands are not only in the line of fire of weather systems from the Atlantic, but as a basin it is also the first line of defense for the US (United States) mainland and its Caribbean territories, as well as the UK (United Kingdom) territories in the region.

“I think the Caribbean basin can argue the case for more funding support from the major donor countries because it shields the US mainland from hurricanes. Many of them die out by the time they have wrecked the islands,” said Issa, in an interview, as he puts his spin on the region’s strategic value.

Issa was commenting on utterances by heads of the world association of scientists and IMF about the reality of global warming and the need to take it seriously and mitigate its impact.

A recent Independent UK article reported that 15,000 scientists from around the world had given a catastrophic warning about the fate of the world in a new ‘letter to humanity’, stating “time is running out.” The message is said to be an update of the 25-year-old first warning sent from the Union of Concerned Scientists that was backed by 1,700 signatures.

More recently, managing director of the IMF Christine Lagarde has come out with a call for funding agencies to support reconstruction and disaster management and mitigation efforts in the Caribbean especially those ravished by recent hurricanes, citing that global warming is at play.

Earlier, while blaming climate change head of the United Nations called for the removal of impediments to the Caribbean islands’ access to aid funding, in light of the recent destruction.

Joseph Issa Ponders: Could Jamaica’s Poverty, Inequality and Crime be Lasting Ills of IMF Austerity?

Despite the meagre growth experienced by Jamaica last year that is being attributed to its current relations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Businessman and former President of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce Joe Issa, has said in an interview that the country’s rate of poverty, inequality and crime could be the result of 30 years of austerity measures under the IMF.

It’s not the first time that Issa is questioning the relationship between IMF’s neoliberal austerity policies and Jamaica’s high rates of poverty, inequality and crime, in recognition of which he said in an article titled, “IMF: Jamaica’s Achilles Heels”, that “if Prime Minister Holness has his way he will finish the never-ending story of Jamaica and the IMF. Close books!”

He lamented then, that “after some 15 agreements with the IMF spanning 30 years Jamaica has gotten worse there’s still, so much poverty, inequality and crime in the country the policies have not benefitted Jamaica,” a fact that has also been alluded to in a yahoo article which said “despite Jamaica having little choice but to go to the IMF, the policy prescription could not work for such a structurally dependent economy.”

It said in the context of the different policies of the JLP and PNP in the 1970s and 1980s, “both Manley and Seaga were caught between a rock and a hard place – between the needs of the people on the one hand and the pressure of liberal economics on the other.”

Now, Issa and others have been joined by no less than IMF’s economists, who are questioning the faith which has been put into austerity and neoliberal doctrine, said an AFP article in the Observer.

They said neoliberalism, the market-guided economic doctrine which the IMF hails as boosting poverty and inequality has not only been overstated but can have its own lasting ill effects on developing countries.

Their views are said to “offer support to legions of critics in countries like Greece and Portugal that have endured tough IMF-designed “austerity” programmes to straighten out their finances.”

“The benefits of some policies that are an important part of the neoliberal agenda appear to have been somewhat overplayed.  Instead of delivering growth, some neoliberal policies have increased inequality, in turn jeopardising durable expansion,” they are quoted as saying in this month’s edition of IMF’s Finance & Development magazine.

‘They argue that “the traditional approach to helping countries build their economies through tight government spending, privatisation, freer trade and open capital flows can have “prominent” costs regarding greater inequality.  Increased inequality, in turn, hurts the level and sustainability of growth.  Even if growth is the sole or main purpose of the neoliberal agenda, advocates of that agenda still need to pay attention to the distributional effects.”

Noting that “there is much to cheer in the neoliberal agenda”, they cited two critical doctrines as problems: removing all restrictions on capital movement and implementing budget austerity on governments with unsustainable deficits and debt.

Moreover, while acknowledging the significant benefits of incoming capital to a developing country, the three research economists say “freed of constraints, foreign capital can be short-term and capricious, causing great volatility in markets and raising the odds of a crash.” This is said to have happened to 20% of 150 cases since 1980, whereby emerging economies which experienced a sharp surge in capital inflows, ended with a financial crisis.