This report underscores the many challenges faced by Caribbean nations as they work to link climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies with development planning, poverty reduction, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the Caribbean. As a result of the need to strengthen community resilience and local adaptive capacity, Provention Consortium and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) brought together 50 participants from academia, civil society, national and local governments, regional inter-governmental bodies, media, and the private sector in 2008. Five topics were identified within this workshop as critical to adaptation: 1) gender, 2) communicating climate change, 3) partnerships, 4) community-level capacity, and 5) community-level communication. It was affirmed by workshop participants that in order to adequately address climate change, particularly in the Caribbean, DRR would have to be a central focus. Among the themes being addressed in the Workshop programme were: i) the development of institutional partnerships (formal/informal); ii) the need to incorporate innovative communication tools; iii) the strengthening of community organization as well as resilience; and iv) the enhancement of resource mobilization in the region for DRR and climate change efforts. With these themes in mind, participants addressed key issues, including the need for a multi-stakeholder approach, addressing root causes of vulnerability by increasing the adaptive capacity of communities, and community-level case studies of lessons learnt.
Environment
Development
General Risk Reduction
Executive summary p. 1; Acronyms p. 2; 1 Introduction p. 3; 1.1 Climate Change Adaptation, Development and Disaster Risk Reduction p. 3; 1.2 Workshop organisers p. 3; 2 Opening ceremony p. 5; 2.1 Official opening of the workshop p. 5; 3 Workshop Objectives p. 7; 3.1 Objectives p. 7; 3.2 Themes p. 7; 3.3 Key issues p. 7; 4 Climate change and community based disaster risk management – day one p. 8; 4.1 Dr Ulric O’D Trotz, The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) 4.2 Dr Bruno Haghebaert, ProVention Consortium p. 8; 4.3 Discussion p. 9; 4.4 Case Study: Bahamas p. 10; 4.5 Case Study: Jamaica p. 11; 4.6 Case Study: Trinidad and Tobago p. 12; 4.7 Case study: Guyana p. 13; 5 Climate change adaptation, development and disaster reduction – day two p. 15; 5.1 Plenary discussion on the role of regional organisations, private sector and donors in strengthening community resilience p. 15; 5.2 Integrating climate information into decision making p. 16; 6 Group work: Outlining the Caribbean Programme of Action p. 18; 6.1 Gender p. 18; 6.2 Communicating climate change p. 18; 6.3 Partnerships p. 19; 6.4 Community-level capacity p. 19; 6.5 Community-level communication p. 20; 7 Closing remarks p. 21; 8 Conclusions p. 22; Appendix 1: AGENDA p. 23; Appendix 2: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS p. 25