Planning for Climate Compatible Development in the Caribbean

Regional Framework

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At the request of CARICOM Heads of State participating in the First Congress for the Environmental Charter and Climatic Change, held at Ávila Mountain, Caracas, 11-13 October 2007, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre has prepared a Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change.

Approved in July 2009, the Regional Framework defines CARICOM’s strategic approach for coping with climate change and is guided by five strategic elements and some twenty goals designed to significantly increase the resilience of the CARICOM Member States’ social, economic and environmental systems.

 

It provides a roadmap for action by member states and regional organisations over the period 2009-2015, while building on the groundwork laid by the CCCCC and its precursor programmes and projects in climate change adaptation. It also builds upon the extensive work undertaken by governments, regional organisations, NGOs and academic institutions in recent years assessing the impacts of a changing climate.

The strategic elements of the framework are as follows:

  1. Mainstreaming climate change adaptation strategies into the sustainable development agendas of CARICOM states.
  2. Promote the implementation of specific adaptation measures to address key vulnerabilities in the region.
  3. Promote actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel reduction and conservation, and switching to renewable and cleaner energy sources.
  4. Encouraging action to reduce the vulnerability of natural and human systems in CARICOM countries to the impacts of a changing climate.
  5. Promoting action to derive social, economic, and environmental benefits through the prudent management of standing forests in CARICOM countries.

Implementation Plan

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To take forward and deliver the strategic elements and goals identified in the Regional Framework, the Heads of Government subsequently mandated the CCCCC to prepare an Implementation Plan for the framework. The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre then delivered such a plan, working with the Climate Development and Knowledge Network CDKN and the climate risk-management firm Acclimatise, funded by DFID.

This plan defines the Region’s strategic approach for coping with climate change for the period 2011 – 2021 and involves:

  • Establishing how regional and country bodies will work together
  • Securing investment to support the action plan
  • Proposing a monitoring and evaluation system
  • Obtaining buy-in from Governments and relevant funders across the region

Extensive consultation have been held with national, regional and international stakeholders to ensure that key concerns and priorities are addressed.

At the Twenty-Third Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Head’s of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), 8 – 9 March, 2012, in Paramaribo, Suriname, the Heads of Governments approved the plan. They expressed appreciation for the support of International Development Partners with respect to the Implementation Plan and pledged to support the further efforts of the Climate Change Centre and the CARICOM Secretariat in the execution of the Plan.

Selected outputs
Regional Framework

Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (2009): Climate Change and the Caribbean: A Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change (2009-2015), Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize

Implementation Plan

Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (2011): Delivering transformational change 2011-21: Implementing the CARICOM `Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change`, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize

Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (2011): Delivering transformational change 2011-21: Implementing the CARICOM `Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change` (Executive Summary), Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize

Research Diagnostic

A Regional Diagnostic on Research Capacity and Priorities for the Caribbean has been designed to aid the delivery of and to complement the Implementation Plan for the ‘Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change’ (the Regional Framework) which defines the region’s strategic approach for coping with climate change. The Research Diagnostic documents knowledge gaps and information requirements identified to deliver the strategic elements and goals of the Regional Framework, along with an assessment of the region’s research capacity.

Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (2011): Regional Diagnostic: Climate Change and Development Research Capacities and Regional Priorities in the Caribbean. Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belmopan, Belize.

Web-based project database

A web-based database was compiled that provides a summary of all strategies, programmes, plans and actions underway or planned in the Caribbean by national, regional and international stakeholders (for example, development agencies and multi-lateral development banks).