Talks continuing here on Regional Climate Change Centre
by Linda Rutherford
19 July, 2000
PRESIDENTIAL Adviser on Science, Technology and the Environment,
Mr Navin Chandarpal has hailed the Caribbean Programme for
Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC) as being a success.
"From our perspective, here in Guyana, we recognise that
tremendous benefits have come out of that programme," he
acknowledged to a gathering last Thursday in Ocean View
Convention Centre, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.
He also noted the significance of the fifth Project Advisory
Committee (PAC) meeting, here over two days begun yesterday, to
evaluate its progress.
The caucus at the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Secretariat is
slated to make "far-reaching decisions regarding the successor
project to CPACC and reveal plans for a Regional Climate Change
Centre and the institutional mechanism to implement such a
project," a communique said.
It said the PAC would meet after the annual meeting of the
programme's National Implementation Coordinating Units (NICUs),
for three days, at Lake Mainstay Resort, Essequibo Coast.
Head of the Regional Project Implementation Unit (RPIU), Guyanese
Dr Neville Trotz had indicated at a media consultation in
Trinidad late April that the execution would be completed next
year end.
The four-year plan, undertaken in April 1997 after it had been
approved by the World Bank Board, has its origins in the Global
Conference on Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing
States (SIDS) held 1994 in Barbados where CARICOM States
approached the Organisation of American States (OAS) for
assistance to cushion the potential impacts of climate change.
Trotz said, at the first ministerial assembly to consider
implementing the `SIDS Plan of Action', CARICOM Heads of
Government had stressed the need to ensure that the institutional
mechanism was in place to regionally address climate change
issues when CPACC ends.
He said, with that in mind, discussions started in earnest about
what happens after CPACC.
Experts from such regional institutions as University of the West
Indies (UWI), Trinidad-based Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA),
PETROTRIN and Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology
(formerly the Caribbean Meteorological Institute) are involved.
The idea, Trotz explained, is that the RPIU should evolve into a
Regional Climate Change Centre and basically comprise a small
core group whose job will be to coordinate relevant work in the
Region through building capacity in existing institutions like
UWI and IMA by identifying gaps in capability and developing
strategies to address them.
He said the concept was discussed at length with the World Bank
during its last two mid-term reviews of the scheme, with an
entire day being dedicated to brainstorming.
Trotz said the World Bank totally supports the approach as does
the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and they are now looking
to take it one step further into CPACC Phase Two.
The US$6.8M CPACC is being funded by the GEF through the World
Bank.
SOURCE: Guyana Chronicle
****************************************************************
To post a submission by email at climate-newswire@sidsnet.org
To unsubscribe, email to majordomo@sidsnet.org with the message:
unsubscribe climate-newswire
To receive updates via email, send an email to majordomo@sidsnet.org with the message:
subscribe climate-newswire
No SUBJECTS required either case.
Brought to you on the SMALL Island Developing States Network: http://www.sidsnet.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Jul 19 2000 - 12:50:31 EDT