Government Denies Misleading COP 28 Delegates List Shared by Opposition Members

The government says the list of COP 28 delegates shared by opposition members is misleading and false. Today, the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management issued a release strongly condemning what it says were attempts by opposition members to misinform the public. The ministry states that there is no final list and says it is revised and finalized only a few days before the event. In an exclusive interview with Love News, Minster Orlando Habet clarified that the supposed list consisted of persons whose names were sent by various ministries and partners as a rough draft. 

Orlando Habet, Minister of Disaster Risk Management: “It seems to be a leaked document from the ministry where it has a list of participants going to the COP and unfortunately the opposition took it upon their own without checking with us whether or not that’s a verified list, a complete list, a final list and basically what it is it is a wish list. So when COP is coming up the different ministries, ministers, CEOs, technical officers want to be participants and so they send in their names and because we have the National Climate Change Office who is responsible for collecting those names and coming up with the final list those names are accepted. But the process is that after that the Prime Minister and Cabinet will make a final decision on which ministers and CEOs and participants will be able to go and also we have a shortlist, again because even those that want to go and may be given the go ahead the greenlight to go may not come up with the funding to be able to pay their hotels, their flights so again that list is shortened. We have participants who participate from Five C’s I think about ten or twelve of them they’re technical officers they go because they’re coming from Belize so they go on the Belize list. So basically from our ministry it’s about eight or ten officers that normally go. We don’t have the funding to be able to take all the technical officers that we would like to because there are various rooms at COP where negotiations take place and we can hardly fill one third of those room with one person each compared to other bigger countries who have the finances to do it. So unfortunately that list went out, it is not a final list. That final list normally goes for accreditation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and when it is accredited then it is submitted by the National Climate Change Office, to the UN CCC and after the UN CCC received it they put it on their website and then it is accessible and for the globe to be able to look at it.”

The government says the event is an important process through which GOB safeguards Belize’s interest, ensuring that Belize’s vulnerabilities are always championed and lobbying for the necessary finances to build climate resilience in Belize.