Climate negotiators and scientists from Caribbean Community Member States met in Saint Lucia from January 31 – February 2, 2018 to review the Second Order Draft of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming at 1.5oC and to develop recommendations for CARICOM Member States to submit their comments to the panel.

Regional Experts who attended the meeting in St Lucia to discuss the IPCC Special Report recently.

The Special Report will inform the Talanoa Dialogue, a process established under the UNFCCC to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties to the Paris Agreement towards the long-term goal to limit global warming to as far below 2°C as possible, pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C, and to inform the preparation of nationally determined contributions (NDCs).

The meeting aimed to create the scientific and political momentum required to increase the mitigation ambitions of regional states through the Talanoa dialogue, a traditional Fijian approach to discourse that encourages the sharing of stories to build trust and empathy. The Talanoa Dialogue includes a technical phase that will run throughout the year, and will culminate with a political phase at 24th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 24) in Katowice, Poland in December 2018.

During the meeting, focal points to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and regional scientists, highlighted the need for the amplified ambition to be reflected and communicated by the countries’ in their updated and more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) by 2020.

Participants also called for the development of a regional climate change research agenda that responds to the needs of both policy makers and scientists, and encouraged more interaction between regional scientists, the UNFCCC and IPCC focal points.

Funding and technical support for the meeting were provided by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Climate Analytics and Charles and Associates Inc. through the IMPACT Project.

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