OECS, British High Commission Team Up against Climate Change

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]fforts to curb the effects of climate change did not begin after last year’s hurricane season but they surely intensified. Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Allen Chastanet, travelled extensively in a sustained effort at securing aid, while international bodies held long forums and presented prevention and resilience frameworks to assist Small Island Developing Countries, especially in the Caribbean, to brace for any impending mayhem.

On Tuesday this week the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, in conjunction with the British High Commission, highlighted their joint contributions through a new report devised from their “Eastern Caribbean Climate Change Regional Implementation” programme. The project’s findings have determined a way for Caribbean member states to establish a Regionally Determined Contribution (RDC) to climate change off the strength of individual countries’ Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submissions to the Paris Agreement. The general intent is to formulate practical and efficient solutions collectively.

A quote from the British High Commission representative explained: “The report that has come out of this project is important because after a year of consultation and discussions with people relevant to the field, the work concludes by highlighting proposals in two specific practical areas of importance for the Caribbean: mitigating the effects of transportation, and adaption to ensure clean water supply in the Eastern Caribbean.”

Meanwhile Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Co-ordinator of the OECS, Crispin d’Auvergne, said that, based on findings from the NDCs, a common thread across islands was the intention
to reduce the causes of climate change by lessening the use of fossil fuels. In this regard, the OECS intends to open up conversation to minibus associations and governments throughout the Caribbean to find ways to help small transport owners make a shift from fossil fuel vehicles to electric transportation. In approaching this transition, d’Auvergne suggested, part of a regional approach would mean setting a common standard in terms of efficiency, charges and how these changes are introduced to the public.

As for adaptation, water proved a worthy focus point to begin with. The Eastern Caribbean is expecting to see less rainfall in coming years. Currently, many islands are experiencing high levels of non-revenue water loss:
water that, instead of being consumed, is being wasted, via leaking pipes for instance.

In some places loss is as high as 60%. The intention now, based on such findings, is to cut this loss to at least 20%, thereby doubling the number of persons who have access to clean water.

Dr. Didicus Jules, Director of the OECS, said: “Some time in the early months of 2017 a conversation took place between the OECS Commission and counterparts Climate Analytics regarding the feasibility of a Regionally Determined Contribution. This ‘out of the box’ conversation led to the formation of a proposal for the Eastern Caribbean Regional Climate Change Implementation Project. The project eventually became a reality through the generous support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, thus laying the foundation for the world’s first and still only regionally determined contribution.” Although currently the focus has fallen mainly on transport mitigation and water adaptation, attention will later be given to other sectors such as coastal zones and the forest sector. These initiatives are meant to lessen the blow of climate change, and make disaster vulnerability at least slightly more bearable for the entire Caribbean region.