Conference Executive Summary - International Climate Change Conference for the Caribbean 2017

Under the framework of the Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) flagship initiative of the European Union and responding to a need identified by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC),  the European Commission Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG-DEVCO) and the CCCCC jointly organised an international conference titled “Integrating Climate Variability and Change information into Adaptation and Mitigation actions in the Caribbean Region” (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from October 9^th to 12^th, 2017). The GCCA+, Caribbean Development Bank, UNDP Japan Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (UNDP-JCCCP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and CCCCC coordinated this joint international climate change conference for the Caribbean. This conference addressed the role of climate information (from global, regional and local models) into shaping and implementing climate policy and programs in the Caribbean region. The various sessions discussed the crucial nexus of science/policy to build the required resilience capacity and programs 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.

The conference opening addressed the current global climate change situation, providing specifically an overview of the expected challenges in the Caribbean region: higher temperatures, lower rates of precipitation, rising sea surface temperatures, more intense extreme events and sea level rise. 

The objectives and the main goals for this three-day conference were to:

1. Evaluate the role of climate information in shaping climate policies and programs in the Caribbean region;
2. Discuss the science-policy nexus in building regional programs;
3. Discuss the integration of climate variability and change risks into national and regional development planning;
4. Foster the interaction and knowledge sharing amongst regional scientists and wider community of policy makers and development partners.

The conference was organised under three thematic areas:

1. Current and Future Climate Scenarios in the Caribbean Region
2. Climate Change impacts on key development sectors and socio-economic dynamics
3. Climate Change Policy and Program Management