Climate finance and access to climate funds is key for climate adaptation and resilience in the Caribbean region, said representatives at UNEP’s XXI Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean 2018.
Issues of food security, emergency preparedness, resilient infrastructure and threats to the islands’ tourism economies were discussed in Buenos Aires. Extreme climate phenomena is well-known in the region. Efforts to adapt and build strong climate resilient nations are underway – but more work is yet to be done, and investment and climate financing are key.
“We live every year with the expectation that we will have to go through the experience of rebuilding our communities and our infrastructure,” said Molwyn Joseph, Antigua and Barbuda’s minister of health, wellness and the environment.
Limited technical capacity, the absence of international aid fund agencies (such as the UNFCCC’s Green Climate Fund) in the region, and the categorisation of many islands as middle income and consequent lack of access to certain aid funds, were all cited as barriers to this mitigation and adaptation process.
To move forward, further finance for climate change mitigation and resilience projects in the Caribbean must be mobilised.
