Caribbean Climate Change Conference

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) together with the European Union Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) initiative, with the support from the Caribbean Development Bank, and UNDP Japan Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (UNDP-JCCCP)  propose a joint international climate change conference for the Caribbean.

This conference will address the role of climate information (from global, regional and local models) into shaping and implementing climate policy and programmes in the Caribbean region. The various sessions will discuss the crucial nexus of science-policy to build the required resilience capacity and programmes in the Caribbean region based on available climate information, highlighting how theories translate in research and how these research findings are used to formulate actions and policies that are critical to building resilience in the Caribbean and transferable to other regions.

In particular, a range of technical and management experience from hands-on applications of climate information in the Caribbean region will be presented fostering interaction and knowledge sharing among natural scientists, social scientists, policy makers and development partners. Finally, this conference will foster the exchange and partnerships among a variety of stakeholders (including SIDS from other regions) involved in global, regional and national climate programmes as well as climate negotiations. This is particularly important for soliciting feedback necessary to refine the region’s research focus as well as for developing programmes and projects to suit the region’s needs that could be funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and other international donors. Accessing climate financing will also feature at this proposed conference. This conference will highlight potential sources of climate financing and the nuisances associated with accessing those funds as well as identify ways to circumvent some of these hindrances. It will draw on the experiences of regional institutions such as Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and international institutions such as the EU-GCCA and GCF.              

Broadly, the objectives of the conference include:

• building consensus and synergies between scientific analysis and policy formulation and implementation;
• exposing primary stakeholders within the Caribbean region to the various tools available to integrate climate variability and change into national planning and policies;
• building capacity with regards to climate financing and implementation;
• creating linkages and a network of researchers, programme/project developers, donors and policy makers;
• raising awareness on the roles of Caribbean scientists, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC ) process in general and the opportunities for local/regional scientists during the development of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6);
• giving exposure to scientific documentation in the Caribbean region with the intention for such to be incorporated into the IPCC report through a peer review and journal publication process; and, more generally,
• raising public awareness about climate change related works being done in the region, climate change financing and sustainable development and charting the way forward.

The International Climate Change Conference for the Caribbean region will seek to:

1. build consensus and synergies between scientific analysis and policy formulation and implementation;
2. expose primary stakeholders within the Caribbean region to the various tools available to integrate climate variability and change into national planning and policies;
3. provide stakeholders with information on the availability of and access to climate finance;
4. give visibility to scientific documentation generated in the Caribbean region with the intention for such to be incorporated into the IPCC reports;
5. introduce climate science to a range of local and regional stakeholders and present the key findings of the 1.5 to Stay Alive research project for the Caribbean region;
6. provide opportunities for discussions of CC impacts, vulnerability, mitigation and adaptation among borrowing member countries of the Caribbean Development Bank, regional and international organisations;
7. create dialogue between regional and national policymakers, businesses, the public sector and other stakeholders on the challenges and priority actions relating to CC, with input from Caribbean scientists;
8. raise awareness on the role of the Caribbean Scientists, the IPCC process in general and the opportunities for local scientists during development of AR6; and,
9. provide a platform for regional & national organisations to share information on climate change activities being implemented under their respective portfolios.