CARICOM wants int’l designation for Regional Climate Change Centre

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states plan to lobby the United Nations (UN) for the CARICOM Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) to be designated an International Centre of Adaptation.

The move, which was agreed on by regional leaders at the 22nd Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Grand Anse, Grenada last weekend, is intended to enhance implementation of guidelines governing climate change.

They urged that representatives of the Centre visit member states to assist them in identifying and preparing appropriate projects, using World Bank and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established guidelines, which would better enable them to utilise available and emerging resources for climate change adaptation.

The regional heads also endorsed a report represented by St. Lucia’s Prime Minister, Hon. Stephenson King, on the outcome of the 16th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico last December.

They agreed that member states would make every effort to ensure that “there is adequate and balanced representation by competent CARICOM experts” through the Group of Latin American and Caribbean (GRULAC) countries and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), on the newly formed governance bodies of the Convention.        

The Heads of Government also requested that the CARICOM Secretariat convene a joint meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD)/Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) to secure consensus on an action plan to “address the way forward” as regards the outcome of COP 16, prepare for COP 17, and to implement the regional climate change strategic plan, among other issues.

CONTACT: DOUGLAS McINTOSH