BELMOPAN, January 29, 2018: Executive Director Dr. Kenrick Leslie headed a delegation of senior officers from the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) to Barbados and Grenada from January 22 to 26, to discuss regional cooperation and resilience building with government officials and partner organisations.

During the visit, the team met with Grenada’s Prime Minster Dr. the Hon. Keith Mitchell, Government Senator Simon Stiell and other senior members of the government. The topics discussed included among other things: (i) the Centre’s support for the national priorities as countries seek to build resilience to climate change, and in particular, the Centre’s assistance in unlocking climate financing; (ii) work being undertaken through the United States Agency for International Development Climate Change Adaptation Program (USAID-CCAP) and (iii) the continued support of the Government of Italy to the region.

Later in the week, the team also met to further ongoing discussions with Barbados’ Minister with responsibility for Climate Change, Hon. Dr. Denis Lowe, Minister Environment and Drainage. Dr. Lowe visited and held discussions with the Centre’s senior management team at its offices in Belize in October 2017.

On Friday January 26, the team met with Mr. Ronald Jackson, Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency (CDEMA) to discuss the implementation of and revisions to the strategic plans governing both agencies cooperation as well as opportunities to broaden engagement between the two entities.

The team also met and held discussions with members of the European Union Delegation in Barbados, such as, Mr. Luis Maia, Head of Cooperation and Mr. Jose LeGarra, Programme Manager, Regional Integration. During those meetings the team focussed on the EU’s support to the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM), Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme (CRIP) in the areas of Climate Change, Disaster Management, Environment and Sustainable Energy; as well as the new Intra-ACP European Union Global Climate Change Alliance plus (EU GCCA+) programme.

Centre officials also briefed governments and counterpart agencies on the status of its newly acquired airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system, which will be used to, inter alia, map coastal areas of member states at significantly lower costs than current market prices, providing the information needed for resilience building and mitigation programmes.

IMAGES:

The Centre’s Delegation poses with head Mr. Ronald Jackson (centre) outside the offices of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) on Friday January 26, 2017.

The Centre’s delegation included: Dr. Ulric Trotz, Deputy Director and Science Adviser; Dr. Mark Bynoe, Assistant Executive Director and Head of the Programme Development and Management Unit, Mr. Keith Nichols, Project Manager of USAID CCAP, and the Centre’s Policy Adviser, Ms. Sharon Lindo.

Senior Officers from 5Cs called on members of the EU Delegation to discuss their ongoing commitment to regional resilience building.

Members of the 5Cs Delegation met with Hon. Dr. Denis Lowe, Minister with responsibility for Climate Change and his team at his office in Barbados during the mission.

SOURCE: http://www.caribbeanclimate.bz/ccccc-in-resilience-building-cooperation-talks-with-regional-leaders/