Every year one Caricom nation hosts a meeting in preparation for the Conference of Parties (COP) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which this year will be held in Morocco. Grenada is proud to be the chosen host for the Caricom Climate Change Negotiators and Ministerial preparatory meeting.
12 countries were represented at these crucial meetings and representatives included the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Caricom Secretariat, and support was provided by the High Level Support Mechanism project of Climate Analytics.
The objectives of the preparatory meeting were to provide ministers and negotiators with a forum to prepare for COP 22 to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco from 7 to 18 November 2016 and to develop the regional positions for the Caribbean states. This meeting provided the ministers with a briefing on the state of negotiations and the proposed Caricom positions on those agenda items that are important for the region. There was opportunities to identify and build the capacity of Caricom lead negotiators on the key agenda items in order to strengthen national and regional implementation capacity.
Minister of State for Environment Simon Stiell in addressing the delegates stated, “for us in small island developing states, climate change requires a redirection of development towards resilience and sustainability in the face of increasing temperatures, more extreme meteorological events, sea level rise, biodiversity loss and the progressive disappearance of critical potable water resources… to become agents of sustainable development, communities must have the organizational, technical and other capacities to develop or strengthen low emission and climate resilient livelihoods. They must have the financing, partnerships and institutional capacities to support the transition to low emission, climate resilient livelihoods and landscapes.”
At the conclusion of the 3–day meeting, the expectation is that the region will be strengthened in its resolve to attain sufficient means of implementation, to address sustainable development goals for small island developing states.
Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment
