CCCCC and USAID successfully conclude US$10 million Climate Change Adaptation Program in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean (ESC)

The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s Eastern and Southern Caribbean (USAID/ESC), will on Wednesday, November 18, bring the curtains down on the Climate Change Adaptation Program (CCAP) – a four-year initiative that benefited nine States in the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. CCAP strengthened the adaptative capacity of the region to climate variability with a focus on: improved data capacity necessary for decision-making; modeling of adaptative approaches to water scarcity; and building the institutional capability of countries to develop sound proposals to access international climate financing. Keynote speakers at the virtual closing ceremony are expected to include: Mr. Joaquin Monserrate, Deputy Chief of Mission for U.S. Embassy Bridgetown, Barbados; Mr. Mark Cullinane, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Georgetown, Guyana; Her Excellency Karen Williams, US Ambassador to Suriname; a senior representative of the CARICOM Secretariat; and Dr Colin Young, Executive Director of the CCCCC. Participants at the closing event will also benefit from presentations on the results of the project, featuring short video clips on key accomplishments. Head of the Programme Development Management Unit (PDMU) at the Centre, Mr Keith Nichols estimates that 90 participants from across the Caribbean will participate in the event, in what is expected to be “a celebration of the achievements of the project.”
In highlighting the main achievements, Nichols said that the program funded: “equipment for climate information digitization and the establishment of six data nodes; the expansion of the regional modelling and data capture network through the installation of five Coral Reef Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Stations; fifty Automatic Weather Stations (AWS); training in the use of the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool (CCORAL); and the acquisition of an airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) system.” According to Nichols, the LiDAR system is critical to supporting advanced bathymetric and topographic data capture across the region.
The beneficiary Member States included Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. The project was funded by the USAID with a US$10 million grant.
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The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre coordinates the region’s response to climate change. Officially opened in August 2005, the Centre is the key node for information on climate change issues and the region’s response to managing and adapting to climate change. We maintain the Caribbean’s most extensive repository of information and data on climate change specific to the region, which in part enables us to provide climate change-related policy advice and guidelines to CARICOM member states through the CARICOM Secretariat. In this role, the Centre is recognized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Environment Programme, and other international agencies as the focal point for climate change issues in the Caribbean. The Centre is also a United Nations Institute for Training and Research
recognised Centre of Excellence, one of an elite few. Learn more about how we’re working to make the Caribbean more climate resilient by perusing The Implementation Plan.