Turn Down the Heat, a new World Bank commissioned climate report released on June 19, looks at likely impacts of present day, 2°C, and 4°C warming across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South East Asia. It describes the risks to agriculture and livelihood security in Sub-Saharan Africa; the rise in sea-level, loss of coral reefs and devastation to coastal areas likely in South East Asia; and the fluctuating water resources in South Asia. Turn Down the Heat warns that poor communities will be the most vulnerable to climate change. The report explores the risks to lives and livelihoods in these three highly vulnerable regions. Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (Read it in Issuu, Scribd, Open Knowledge Repository) takes the climate discussion to the next level, building on a 2012 World Bank report that concluded from a global perspective that without a clear mitigation strategy and effort, the world is headed for average temperatures 4 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial times by the end of this century.
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre showcased its work at the 10th Carbon Expo in Barcelona, Spain last week (May 29-31 2013). The Carbon Expo is the largest event for the international carbon market and attracts project developers, regulators, financiers, brokers, businesses, and entrepreneurs.
The Centre shared a display booth with Cuba and the UNEP Riso Centre. Despite the depressed state of the carbon market, approximately 2,200 participants attended the expo representing 110 countries and 150 exhibitors.
The expo was organized in three streams covering: policy, climate finance, and clean energy and clean technology in plenary, training and dialogue sessions. While the regulated market which developed as a result of the Kyoto Protocol has declined significantly in 2013, the voluntary market and the national and regional markets are expanding. The focus of the expo therefore was considering options for linking these diverse markets, exploring opportunities in NAMAs, understanding the new market mechanisms being negotiated under the UNFCCC, and bridging the gap until the new mechanisms come into effect. For the first time, the Carbon Expo included issues of adaptation on the agenda as the organizers appreciated the linkages between adaptation and mitigation.
The Centre’s representative at the Carbon Expo, Carlos Fuller, the International and Regional Liaison Officer, held discussions with the representatives of Cuba, UNEP Riso, Barbados, and representatives of several organizations to explore opportunities for collaboration in the Caribbean. The Centre work was also promoted through a World Bank display featuring the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) project.
The Centre’s attendance was facilitated by the World Bank. Carbon Expo 2013 was preceded by the First Forum of the standing Committee on Finance of the UNFCCC, where Mr Fuller was part of a panel discussion during which he highlighted the work of the Centre in adaptation in the Caribbean.
Size of #carbon market: 6800 projects in 88 countries registered with UNFCCC, representing $215bn http://t.co/PlqrzhM9d5
— World Bank Climate (@WBG_Climate) June 11, 2013
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre’s (CCCCC) International and Regional Liaison Officer, Mr Carlos Fuller, was a panelist at the First Forum of the Standing Committee on Climate in Barcelona, Spain on May 28, 2013. At the historic forum addressing “financing and investment drivers for adaptation activities”, Mr Fuller discussed the Centre’s adaptation efforts across the Caribbean. He noted that these activities are in support of the mandate that the CARICOM Heads of Government endorsed in the region’s Implementation Plan for the “Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change”.
Other members of the panel included Mr Juan Hoffmaster of Bolivia, who represented the UNFCCC Adaptation Committee, Ms. Smita Nakooda of the Overseas Development Institute and Ms Saliha Dobardzic of the LDCF/SCCF of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The panel was facilitated by the co-chair of the Work Programme on Long-term Finance, Mr Naderev Sano of the Philippines.
The Standing Committee is a body of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) established at COP 16. Its mandate is improving coherence and coordination in the delivery of climate change financing, rationalization of the financial mechanism, mobilization of financial resources and measurement, reporting and verification of support provided to developing country Parties.
Dr Hugh Sealy of Barbados, the Vice Chairman of the Executive Board of the CDM was also a panellist at the forum addressing “Financing and investment drivers for mitigation activities”. Among the 100 attendees was Mr Derreck Oderson of Barbados, the Chairman of the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee (JISC) and Mr Raymond Landveld, Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Suriname to the United Nations who is a member of the Standing Committee.
The Forum was organized by the Standing Committee on Finance of the UNFCCC with support by the World Bank Institute and the International Emission Trading Association (IETA). Panellists included representatives of national governments, international organizations such as the South Center, the International Finance Corporation, the IDB, GIZ, OECD and the private sector, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Bank (Nairobi). Carbon Expo 2013 will be held at the same venue on 29 to 31 May 2013.
At the conclusion of the Forum, the co-chair of the standing Committee, Ambassador Dianne Black-Layne of Antigua and Barbuda noted that the insights of the Forum would inform the next meeting of the Forum to be held in Bonn, Germany in June.
The Forum was formally closed by Secretary of State of the Environment of Spain, Mr Federico Ramos de Armas and Ms Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC.
A World Bank study says a one-metre rise in sea levels from climate change could destroy more than 60 percent of the Caribbean and the broader developing world’s coastal wetlands currently at one-metre or lower elevation.
The study says this will lead to economic losses of about US$630 million annually. Read more…
Learn more about how we’re working to make the Caribbean more climate resilient by perusing The Implementation Plan for “Delivering transformational change 2011-21”.
**Source: Caribbean360
The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) recently launched a set of risk training modules developed by the Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN) to enhance risk assessment and management in the agricultural sector. CARDI says the risk management training focuses on the threats, challenges and opportunities for managing Invasive Species and Climate Change. The “Risk Mitigation for Smallholder Agricultural Production in the Caribbean” training modules were developed with funding from the World Bank and are available to the public at no cost. You may peruse the modules here.