August 13, 2019; Belmopan, Belize. – On Tuesday, August 12, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) hosted representatives from the Tropical Agricultural Research And Higher Education Center (CATIE) for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between both institutions at its offices in Belmopan.

Dr Muhammad Ibrahim, the Director-General of CATIE, accompanied by one member of its Board, Mrs Gale Miller-Garnett, joined a small team from the CCCCC led by the Executive Director, Dr Kenrick Leslie to sign the MOU.

The agreement formalises a partnership to address:
• The development of joint proposals to secure resources to enhance collaborative possibilities through donors and partners;
• Assistance in the implementation of research and development programs; and
• The delivery of training programs and activities for professionals, officials, producers, and other appropriate clients.

Dr Ibrahim outlined CATIE’s areas of interests noting: “We are particularly interested in collaborating on Climate Change Adaptation initiatives that focus on the scaling up of Ecosystem-Based Adaptation by building on knowledge within Central America and reporting on the status of Biodiversity and Climate Change. We acknowledge that the Sustainable Development Goals are all linked to the Climate Change agenda and we want to build on achieving those”, Dr Ibrahim said.

In his response, Dr Leslie spoke of the willingness to work with counterpart agencies in achieving the Centre’s prime objectives: “There are many things that we as a community can do to prove beneficial to this work. The Centre has developed a model for partnership that has attributed to much of our success. The Centre welcomes the invitation to explore this partnership as both institutions share their expertise to further these initiatives,” he said.

In his remarks, Deputy Director and Science Advisor of the CCCCC Dr Ulric Trotz highlighted the areas that were most in need of resources.

“Two areas calling for significant resources to address them are the mangrove restoration and coral reef restoration. Between our institutions, we have enough information that we can use to scale up and focus our energy on a major intervention”.

The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) is a regional body dedicated to research and graduate education in agriculture, and the management, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Its members include Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Venezuela, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the State of Acre in Brazil.

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