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Saturday, 17 August 2013
Monday, 12 August 2013
The Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation
The Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation, or ParCA, is a five-year research programme investigating the ways Caribbean and Canadian coastal communities are grappling with long-term shifts in the environment and what they can teach each other.
It combines science and local knowledge to paint a big picture of change in four dramatically different places and pinpoint where those developments overlap. The four sites are Negril in Jamaica, Speyside to Charlotteville in Trinidad and Tobago, Lennox Island to Rustico in the Prince Edward Islands, and Lunenburg to Queens in Nova Scotia.
Beyond the obvious contrasts, the sites share some vulnerabilities and economic characteristics: each is making the switch to high-value tourism, each has strong links between fishing and tourism and each relies in big part on nearby protected marine zones. Learning how these factors play out in each area could be the start of a chain of best practices linking communities around the world.
Researchers will use the results to scale up plans to the national and regional levels, exploring where the authorities can sustainably develop a range of sectors, from coastal management and tourism planning to disaster preparedness and infrastructure.
The project is driven by a fundamental need to have people on the ground define just how and where their communities are vulnerable to climate change and what factors stand in the way of adaptation. The support and input of residents is critical if ideas for adaptation are to take root and grow into global collective knowledge.
That input is also essential if people are to come together around their common interests and use the strength of their combined local experience and resources to face challenges well into the future. ParCA’s goal is to leave a lasting legacy of shared awareness and information so that communities can find answers within themselves.
A big part of the endeavor will be to forge stronger scientific and professional research links between Canada and the Caribbean and train the next generation of highly qualified personnel. Scholarships will be awarded to many Caribbean nationals to conduct post-graduate studies at the Masters and PhD levels in various disciplines, ensuring ParCA’s ambitions live on well beyond the life of the project.
ParCA is a CARIBSAVE project conducted in partnership with the University of Waterloo (Canada).
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For further details about this initiative, visit the ParCA website: parca.uwaterloo.ca
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The overall objective of the five-year Partnership for Canada-Caribbean Community Climate Change Adaptation (ParCA) research programme, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is to utilize a common community-based vulnerability assessment (CBVA) framework to integrate scientific and local knowledge from comparative ‘learning sites’ to understand the multi-scale socioeconomic, governance and environmental conditions that shape vulnerability and capacity to adapt to climate change within and between communities.
Four ‘Learning Sites’ have been strategically selected to take advantage of existing research networks of the research team, as well as common vulnerabilities and economic characteristics (e.g., high value tourism economy, tourism-fishery linkages, and significance of nearby protected areas to community livelihoods). These shared characteristics will serve to maximise the transferability of knowledge and best-practices to the hundreds of communities that will face common challenges in the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada.
The four sites (two in the Caribbean and two in Canada) are:
- Jamaica: Negril to Montego Bay (Northwest shore)
- Trinidad and Tobago: Speyside to Charlotteville [including Little Tobago], Tobago)
- Prince Edward Islands (PEI): Lennox Island to Rustico (North shore)
- Nova Scotia: Lunenburg to Queens (South shore)
Five principles guide the ParCA project: 1) application of a community?based vulnerability assessment (CBVA) framework to identify, in collaboration with communities and partners, exposure?sensitivities and associated adaptation strategies; 2) addressing key data gaps that constrain adaptation efforts in the Caribbean and Atlantic Canada; 3) participatory development and evaluation of adaptation portfolios; 4) ‘mainstreaming’ and ‘scaling?up’ of adaptation planning to incorporate local perspectives and values into governance arrangements for climate change adaptation; and 5) mobilising knowledge and empowering communities and partners to respond to climate change.
The approach directly meets the need for participatory community based adaptation research in the Caribbean region. CBVA has proven an effective tool for community engagement in the dialogue on adaptation, with strengths that include highlighting the needs of the various stakeholders within communities, the integration of local-traditional knowledge, and the identification of existing adaptation practices and contributors to adaptive capacity. The approach also identifies the role of climate-related exposures in the context of other, non-climatic stresses and highlights the necessity of understanding that adaptation decisions to climate change are rarely made in isolation from other social, economic and political concerns.
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[vc_cta_button title="DOWNLOAD" href="http://intasave-caribsave.intasave.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/09/ParCa-Summary.pdf" color="btn-info" size="wpb_regularsize" icon="none" target="_blank" position="cta_align_right" call_text="Download the ParCA Project Summary (PDF)"]
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Climate Change Risk Atlas
CARIBSAVE’s flagship Climate Change Risk Atlas is where the best climate science and thinking from communities come together to enable a region prepare for the future. In short, it’s a one-stop, comprehensive guide to the threats climate change poses to 15 Caribbean countries and what they can do about them.
Framed with the key tourism sector in mind, the atlas pinpoints where and when fundamental shifts in the environment will occur across the Caribbean and how they will affect every aspect of life.
During three years, some of the world’s leading researchers in climate, physical and social sciences plotted the path of coming change and assessed the vulnerability of the region’s people, environment and infrastructure. The team worked with regional experts and institutions, particularly the University of the West Indies and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and applied various state-of-the-art, high-resolution climate models to estimate the most likely changes across the region. The project also used advanced mapping and survey techniques to identify where storm surges would hit or what infrastructure would be submerged by the projected rise in sea level.
Hundreds of meetings were held with residents, businesses and decision-makers to build up a picture of the social and economic consequences of the projected changes, adding an essential practical outlook and community knowledge to the project. When the consultations were done, the researchers had a much better idea of what the priorities would be for each community.
A critical goal of the consultation phase was to “democratise” climate change science. Through film (insert YouTube link), clear data maps and animation, the team brought the message home to individuals, explaining what changes, for example, increases in water temperature, were likely to mean for them. Further, at each stage of the project, vital information surfacing from the study was shared with key ministries and policymakers in each country, underscoring the fact that climate change affects not only the environment but the economy, society, the physical landscape and national finances.
The task was to suggest ways that each island could take to mitigate and offset these threats. Coastal threats emerged as a core issue, with storms and hurricanes projected to increase in intensity and inflict an ever-greater toll, damage that will be compounded by sea level rise. The region’s largest industry, tourism and key infrastructure such as roads and airports, which are mostly based along the coastline, are highly vulnerable to these projected threats. Further, the degradation of coastal ecosystems, in particular coral reefs, will also add to the rate of coastal erosion and risk of flooding.
Food security and energy were also key issues for the region, as most countries rely on imports to meet their needs. Despite the availability of abundant renewable energy sources such as solar and wind, seven of the 15 countries examined rely on fossil fuels to generate all of their electricity. Here, cutting dependency on these fuels and turning to alternative sources makes sound economic and environmental sense; it would allow money spent on fuel to be diverted to local sources and play a part in reducing carbon emissions. Suriname, one country in the study, is leading the way, producing 95 percent of its power from hydro plants.
The result of the project is an accessible, science-based, practical guide that lets the general public and specialists alike compare and contrast their present and future risks.
The CARIBSAVE Climate Change Risk Atlas was funded by UKaid from the United Kingdom Department for International Development and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID).
The project was implemented in 15 countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Nevis, St Lucia, St Kitts, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and the Turks and Caicos.
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For more information click here: link to the short CCCRA Briefing Note
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The CARIBSAVE Climate Change Risk Atlas was funded by UKaid from the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The project was implemented in 15 countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Lucia, St Kitts, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and the Turks and Caicos, over a period of three (3) years, and focused on reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience of the tourism sector and related sectors, vital to the economy and livelihoods of the Caribbean region.
These sectors or components were:
- Climate Data, Variable Modelling and Impacts
- Water Resources
- Energy
- Agriculture and Food Security
- Human Health
- Biodiversity (Marine and Terrestrial) and Fisheries
- Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge Impacts on Coastal Infrastructure and Settlements
- Comprehensive Disaster Management
- Community Livelihoods, Gender, Poverty & Development
The main outputs from CCCRA Phase I are Climate Change Risk Country Profiles which detail the key climate processes of relevance and key results specific to each country; the analysis of sea level rise and storm surge impacts on sections of national coastlines; the impact of climate change on coastal communities and an assessment of gender and livelihood differentials; and in coordination with national stakeholders vulnerability and adaptive capacity analyses of tourism and its related sectors are conducted. These outputs contribute to the work being conducted by national and regional organisations working in the areas of gender, sustainable development, climate change, and risk and disaster management. Other crucial components of the project included significant capacity building and awareness?raising initiatives for a range of agencies and institutions including coastal management agencies in the countries, national, local and regional tourism stakeholders, local communities and the University of West Indies.
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Greening Tobago
One of the big elements of this transformation would be to encourage more use of renewable technology and less consumption of ever-more expensive fossil fuels.
Trinidad and Tobago is one country that could lead the way. Unlike most other island developing states, Trinidad is a major producer and exporter of fossil fuels, mainly natural gas. The smaller sister Island of Tobago, however, is famed as one of the most pristine Caribbean tourist islands and markets as “Green, Clean and Serene”. The economic drivers of these two islands are clearly in sharp contrast, but their differences are an opportunity for Trinidad and Tobago to diversify both its economic and energy bases. Also, the country is in the envious position of being one of the few in the Caribbean that could afford to invest in a large-scale transition to renewable energy as part of its tourism branding for Tobago. It’s a shift that could present major business opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago in the manufacturing of low-carbon and renewable technologies.
How can it be achieved?
With funding from the British High Commission and the German Embassy, CARIBSAVE carried out a consultation and workshop in Tobago to investigate the idea. The project was called Greening Tobago and it looked at the challenges Tobagonians face in making the switch to renewable energy, power-efficient technology and low-carbon economic growth.
Tobago was chosen as a pilot site because its government is committed to helping its citizens prosper, its authorities are keenly aware of the need to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and it has an abundance of natural sources of renewable energy.
In the first phase of the project, talks with government, non-governmental organisations and business exposed a wealth of ideas for achieving greener development. One of the most promising proposals was to transform Tobago into a “low-carbon tourism destination”, a proposal that could both conserve the limited fossil fuels and be a major marketing pull for tourism.
The ideas from the talks were sent out to involved parties for feedback and suggestions. The results revealed broad support for low-carbon goals as well as major challenges in meeting them. The main barriers were the high initial cost of alternative energy systems, government subsidies for fuel imports, the need for more government leadership in the area and a lack of people with the technical skills to install and maintain renewable energy systems.
The study is one activity in a bigger effort to assist the people of the Caribbean move toward a sustainable future and prosperous green economies.
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For further information contact: Dr Owen Day, owen.day@caribsave.org
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Funded by the British High Commission and the German Embassy, this project focused on addressing the challenges facing Tobagonian stakeholders in adopting renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, revealing an array of actions that could be taken forward to facilitate greater investments in these areas in pursuit of a green growth low-carbon development pathway and potentially 'carbon-neutral tourism destination' status.
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MSMEs: Building Climate Resilience (CCCCE-ARK)
For many people living in the Caribbean, the difference is already being felt: climate change and a host of other factors have led to unpredictable weather and the loss or degradation of natural resources, like coastal erosion. Whether they make their living from the sea, farming, tourism or crafts, residents in coastal communities want to know and understand more about these changes because they affect their lives and livelihoods.
The big question for them is what they can do about it?
The Climate Change, Coastal Community Enterprises, Adaptation, Resilience and Knowledge (CCCCE-ARK – pronounced “sea-ark”) project, is a two-and-a-half-year initiative to help people who operate small-scale businesses tackle the storms of climate change and make their businesses more economically viable and sustainable over time. It involves finding ways to deal with the challenges they face, for example water scarcity, drought, flooding and coastal erosion from storm surge and sea level rise.
Small businesses play a vital role in Caribbean coastal communities and their local economies, providing about 90 percent of all jobs and accounting for roughly 70 percent of the overall economy. They are also some of the most vulnerable to both environmental and economic impacts – their reliance on natural resources combined with their limited financial means (amongst others), makes it that much harder for them to change their operations, relocate or rebuild when disaster strikes.
The CCCCE-ARK project will benefit about 1,200 low-income residents and 50 micro- to medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across eight coastal communities in Jamaica, Belize, Barbados, and the Bahamas. Its goal is to develop adaptation plans for the community as whole, and also for the 50 enterprises participating in the project. Half of these businesses will receive funding and targeted training to put their adaptation strategies into commercial practice. Participants will be selected based on their interest, capacity to learn and ability to influence others in the community.
Best practices will be shared from community to community, and country to country through several exchanges. For example, Bahamian fishermen, who have already well-established sustainable fishing practices designed to counter coral bleaching, will travel to Barbados to share their experience with fishermen there. Conditions will vary from business to business and place to place but the underlying holistic approach promises benefits for the wider MSME community.
This project is just the start of what is hoped will be a broader venture showing other communities and businesses throughout the region how the model can be expanded and applied to their situation. Case studies and videos of the lessons learned from the process will be made available so that others too, can find a way to adapt their businesses to thrive in the future – despite a changing climate.
The project is the first climate change adaptation project being funded by the Multilateral Investment Facility of the Inter-American Development Bank.
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For further information contact: Judi Clarke, judi.clarke@caribsave.org
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The Climate Change, Coastal Community Enterprises, Adaptation, Resilience and Knowledge project, or CCCCE-ARK, is a two and a half year-long initiative being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the purpose of the project is to ensure that 50 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across 8 coastal communities in Jamaica, Belize, Barbados, and the Bahamas are more resilient to changes in climate. More specifically, it is anticipated that 1,200 low income individuals will benefit from capacity building workshops on climate change and adaptation, and 50 MSMEs including fishermen, tourism operators, and craftsmen will receive training in climate change adaptation. 25 MSMEs will receive additional training to incorporate climate change into their business plans, and funding to launch initiatives. The indirect beneficiaries will be: 3,000 low-income individuals, family members and friends of project participants, who will indirectly gain knowledge about potential climate change impacts, business adaptation alternatives, and potential alternative income-generating activities.
The project consists of four primary components: (1) the development of Community Adaptation Plans; (2) implementation of Community Adaptation Plans through training; (3) the development and implementation of detailed MSME Adaptation Plans; and (4) dissemination, monitoring, and evaluation of results. Along with the community and MSME adaptation plans, other project outputs will include an inventory of MSMEs and local stakeholders in coastal communities; climate change training of coastal MSMEs; creation of knowledge networks between selected coastal communities; funded and implemented MSME adaptation strategies; and knowledge products, including video, radio, and written case studies.
This project will demonstrate a model that can be continued and expanded after project completion. The knowledge and learning products generated, such as videos, audio and reports will summarise the lessons learned from this early MSME adaptation project. At the end of the project, beneficiary coastal communities and MSMEs will understand the risks presented by changing climate, allowing them to have developed appropriate adaptation and response strategies for their homes and businesses, and to share lessons with each other and other non-target vulnerable coastal communities.
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[vc_cta_button title="DOWNLOAD" href="http://intasave-caribsave.intasave.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/09/C-ARK-Project-Brief-4pp.pdf" color="btn-info" size="wpb_regularsize" icon="none" target="_blank" position="cta_align_right" call_text="Download the C-ARK Project Brief (PDF)"] [vc_cta_button title="DOWNLOAD" href="http://intasave-caribsave.intasave.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/09/C-ARK-6pp-Project-Summary.pdf" color="btn-info" size="wpb_regularsize" icon="none" target="_blank" position="cta_align_right" call_text="Download the C-ARK Project Summary (PDF)"]
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Management of Caribbean Climate Change Research Projects
CARIBSAVE’s wealth of expertise puts it not only at the forefront of work in climate change in the Caribbean, but also at the centre of efforts to conduct climate research in the Caribbean.
In November 2011, The CARIBSAVE Partnership was selected by the Climate Development Knowledge Network, as the managing partner of the Climate and Development Knowledge Network in an initiative to support climate change research in the Caribbean and to help decision-makers design and deliver climate-compatible development.
Through a process of inviting research proposals and rigorously evaluating them against a set of criteria, CARIBSAVE and an international expert panel selected five research projects to receive a total of US$480,000 in funding from the UK’s Department for International Development and the Netherlands’ Directorate-General for International Cooperation. These are:
- "Participatory research to enhance climate change policy and institutions in the Caribbean: ARIA tool pilot” being implemented by the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute.
- "Assessing the potential impacts of climate change on Belize’s water resources” being implemented by the Environmental Research Institute of the University of Belize.
- “Climate Change and inland flooding in Jamaica, risk and adaptation measures for vulnerable communities” being implemented by the Department of Geography and Geology, Mona Campus, University of the West Indies.
- "Identifying opportunities for climate compatible tourism development in Belize” being implemented by the World Wildlife Fund Belize.
- “Climate Impacts and Resilience in Caribbean Agriculture: Assessing the consequences of climate change on cocoa and tomato production in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica” - being jointly implemented by the Department of Geography and Geology, Mona Campus and the Department of Life Sciences, St. Augustine Campus, both of the University of the West Indies.
The range of outcomes from this two-year initiative will include case studies of activities which are compatible with climate change, planning and practice in a range of countries and contexts as well as academic peer-reviewed papers.
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For more information contact: Judi Clarke, judi.clarke@caribsave.org
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In progress...
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Loss & Damage from Slow Onset Events in SIDS
The changes may be gradual but the dangers are potent and real. Sea level rise, higher temperatures, ocean acidification, desertification and salinity, all associated with climate change, take a long time to appear but deserve immediate attention.
There is much that can be done to minimise these “slow onset” events but for many small island developing states the solutions are out of reach – their already limited resources are focused on defending their economies and communities from the damage of extreme weather events and responding to economic, environmental and social losses when they happen.
CARIBSAVE’s 2013 study “Assessing and Addressing Loss and Damage from Slow Onset Events in Small Island Developing States and Vulnerable Countries”, gives vulnerable countries an overview of the pragmatic and realistic responses they can make to slow onset events and the help that’s available to implement them. This project is funded by: the United Nations Development Programme, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.
Slow onset events are complex and interconnected, and can have a lasting impact across a population, from the way people earn a living to the best place to build an airport. The responses can range from drafting better building practices for more efficient water use and retrofitting hospitals for greater ventilation, to cultivating lower-impact food production.
There are many international mechanisms to help smaller countries cope with climate change but most don’t specifically address the longer-term phenomena. However, many of these schemes have elements that can be repurposed for adaptation to slow onset events. Funding and technical support is available under programmes like the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism and the Hyogo Framework for Action.
There are also ways that smaller island states can prepare now for inevitable losses in the future. In some cases, for example, it will be unfeasible to protect very low-lying and very small islands from sea level rise, so plans have to be put in place now to relocate people living in those areas. Countries can start preparing for those unavoidable losses by building up reserve funds or securing loans when interest rates are lower. Some form of insurance scheme specifically for slow onset events would also go a long way in preventing financial setbacks, as yet one does not exist.
It is clear that the benefits of avoiding slow onset losses outweigh the costs of repairing damage once it is done. For many small island developing states, action is required now, before the costs become prohibitive.
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For further information contact: Dr. Murray Simpson, author, murray.simpson@caribsave.org
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