OECS Seeks to Scale up and Accelerate Climate Action

OECS Media Release

April 4, 2023  — Climate Change poses an existential threat to the Caribbean and is increasingly impacting the lives of people of the region, in every sphere. With the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Sixth Assessment ​ report (https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/) ​ deemed the “Final Warning,” the need for urgent and concrete climate action is undeniable. 

In an effort to scale up and accelerate climate action, the OECS continues to work with Member States to support their efforts to better access climate finance. From March 27-31, 2023, the OECS brought government and private sector representatives together, at two back-to-back meetings in Grenada, with the aim of formulating and refining regional approaches to climate finance.

With the support of a readiness grant from the Green Climate Fund, under the project entitled, Improving Eastern Caribbean Engagement with the Green Climate Fund, the OECS Commission has been engaging the public and private sectors on ​ climate finance matters as both continue to play an essential role in building climate resilience. The first meeting therefore saw the presentation of work from the project, which included a data gap assessment, a private sector engagement strategy, and a pilot project to support the integration of climate change into the curriculum of the Dominica State College. 

The OECS Commission, with support from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under its Needs-Based Financing Programme, has developed, in consultation with Member States, a regional Needs-Based Finance Strategy, that seeks to address the major climate change challenges facing the Eastern Caribbean and to identify areas where regional solutions can support efforts to build climate resilience. The second meeting saw the presentation of the Strategy to representatives of Member States and key development partners who, collectively, identified critical next steps as well as possible areas where the respective development partners could engage in implementation of the Strategy

Permanent Secretary in Grenada’s Ministry of Climate Resilience, the Environment and Renewable Energy, Merinna Jessamy, reminded participants that, “Our fiscal space cannot afford the price of climate change - we must find a way to bridge the divide and close the gap.


Danny Moonie

Communications / Knowledge Management Specialist, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

OECS Communications Unit

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

 

 

 

 

 

Get updates in your mailbox

By clicking "Subscribe" I confirm I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy.

About The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Back to www.oecs.int

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

Contact

Morne Fortune Castries Saint Lucia

+1758-455-6377

media@oecs.int

www.oecs.int