On World Climate Day, Wednesday, December 8, 2020, from 09:00 – 17:00 hrs. (AST), the first ‘Karayib Klima’ virtual seminar on climate change resilience is organised by UNITE Caribbean.
Themed “Climatic Resilience in the Caribbean: action for a regional, multi-stakeholder approach”, the event seeks to find answers to the question how we can adapt, together, to effectively deal with the effects of climate change in the region.
During the online meeting, recognised experts will be presenting the most recent data on the expected effects of climate change in the Caribbean, including Dr. Kénel Délusca, principal author of the special IPCC report on Climate Change and Land, and rapporteur of the UNFCC Latin America and the Caribbean consultative group of experts, Prof. Saffache of UAG (Université des Antilles), and Dr. James Fletcher, who led the Caribbean’s delegation for the 2015 Paris Agreement, and who spearheaded the region’s ‘1.5 to stay alive’ climate change campaign.
Climate change is already a reality for the Caribbean, as its effects are felt daily. Storms, droughts, rising sea levels and increased health risks. This year the ‘National Hurricane Center’ recorded a well above average storm activity with 30 named tropical storms, including 13 hurricanes. However, to face this common threat, there are few co-operation mechanisms and few exchanges between civil society organisations of the different countries and territories on the issue of climate resilience in our region.
Therefore, the ‘Karayib 004Blima’ programme was created by UNITE Caribbean, a regional consultancy firm based in Guadeloupe, F.W.I., and funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and ADEME, the national French agency of ecological transition. ‘Karayib Klima’ is unique in promoting collaboration and partnerships between civil society organisations in 7 Creole speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean, including Dominica, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Grenada, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Martin.
According to Damien Bauchau, co-founder of UNITE Caribbean and director of the ‘Karayib Klima’ project, “Climate resilience is at the heart of regional co-operation issues in the Caribbean, and yet few common actions are taken. We look forward to working with Civil society organisations and to forge alliances for the ‘Karayib Klima’ project by sharing best practices, innovations and solutions to increase climate resilience.”