Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

• Author: Duke Pollard
• Profession: Sitting senior judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the highest appellate municipal court of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
• Pages: 755-773

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre 755

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THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY

CLIMATE CHANGE CENTRE

The United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which

convened in Bridgetown, Barbados in April/May 1994 approved the Barbados Plan of

Action which identified climate change and sea level rise as the first of 14 priority

areas to be addressed for the achievement of sustainable development. Indeed, in the

Caribbean Community the most serious environmental challenge facing the island states

and the low lying states of Belize and Guyana is that of global climate change (GCC).

Some of the negative effects associated with global climate change are: sea-level rise

with accompanying coastal erosion and salt water intrusion into the water table; and

escalation in the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and typhoons and disruptions in

precipitation and freshwater supply which threaten the very survival of most Member

States of the Caribbean Community. Given the importance of climate change to the

Caribbean, the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) agreed to fund a project entitled

‘the Caribbean Project for Adjustment to Climate Change’ (CPACC) which is executed

by the Organisation of American States in collaboration with the University of the West

Indies Centre for Environment and Development (UWICED) for the World Bank. The

Global Environmental Facility is the implementing agency.

The objective of the Caribbean Project for Adjustment to Climate Change is

preparing Caribbean States to cope with the negative effects of global climate change,

particularly sea-level rise in coastal areas through vulnerability assessment, adaption

planning and related capacity building. The achievements which have been identified

by the CPACC are:

(a) establishment of a sea level and climate monitoring system;

(b) improved access and availability of data;

(c) increased appreciation of climate change issues at the policy-making

level;

(d) meeting country needs for expanded vulnerability assessment;

(e) establishment of coral reef monitoring protocols;

(f) establishing a network for regional harmonisation;

(g) increased public awareness on climate change issues; and

(h) higher visibility of regional climate change concerns in the international

negotiating arena.

756 THE CARICOM SYSTEM

To date, there have been two successor projects to the CPACC. These are

‘Adaptation to Climate Change in the Caribbean’ (ACCC) and ‘Mainstreaming

Adaptation to Climate Change’(MACC). The ACCC’s principal objective is the

establishment of conditions under which the Region will be able to sustain climate

change activities when the CPACC comes to an end. The MACC has been tasked

with:

(a) assisting in mainstreaming climate change considerations into

development planning and sectoral investment projects;

(b) identifying and developing appropriate technical and institutional

response mechanisms for adaptation to global climate change; and

(c) supporting and promoting regional climate change monitoring and

modelling.

The political directorate of the Caribbean have determined to establish a permanent

climate change mechanism. At its eighth ordinary meeting, the Council for Trade and

Economic Development (COTED) of the Caribbean Community considered and

commended to the Conference of Heads of Government for endorsement a concept

paper on the CCCCC. At their twentieth Meeting in Canouan, the Conference approved

the establishment of the Centre. A draft Agreement on the establishment of the Centre

was prepared and circulated to Member States and the Legal Affairs Committee at its

fifth ordinary meeting in Port-of-Spain, November 28 to 30, 2001 approved and

commended to Conference the draft Agreement on the CCC.

The objectives of the Centre are as follows:

(a) protection of the climate system of Members for the benefit of future

generations of their peoples;

(b) enhancing regional institutional capabilities for the coordination of

national responses to the negative effects of climate change;

(c) providing comprehensive policy and technical support in the areas of

climate change and related issues and spearheading regional initiatives

in those areas; and

(d) performing the role of executing agency for regional environmental

projects relating to climate change.

The Centre consists of a Council of Ministers, a Board of Governors and a Technical

Secretariat. The Council consists of Ministers of Government responsible for the

Environment and subject to any general or special directions of COTED determines the

policy of the Centre. The Board of Governors is comprised of representatives of public

and private institutions whose policies may impact on the Centre. The Board is the

operational arm of the Centre and is assisted in its work by a Policy Advisory Committee

comprising representatives from public and private institutions known to be important

stakeholders in the operations of the Centre. The Technical Secretariat is largely

concerned with supplying technical inputs for the deliberations and determinations of

the Council and the Board of Governors. The Centre has full juridical personality and

is accorded privileges and immunities by Member States to ensure the efficient

performance of its functions.