Conference on Climate Change Impacts on the Caribbean
June 15th - 17th, 2007
POLICY RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS & CHALLENGES
F J McDONALD UNEP CEP/RCU & UWI ISD [email protected]
Consensus? Climate change is a significant environmental, economic and
social issue in the Wider Caribbean Region. Its direct impacts include changes in temperature; rainfall
intensities, distribution and amounts; and sea level. Indirect impacts from severe weather and drought, etc are not yet fully understood but are likely to be negative.
Societal implications for public health, crop yields, food security and the performance of economic sectors such as tourism, agriculture, financial services are poorly understood. Its implications for livlihoods and revenue generation at the local, national and regional levels and for critical sectors is also not fully understood.
Caribbean societies have demonstrated limited capacity for assessing and responding to such emerging issues and trends hence Climate Change presents a special cluster of challenges to the public good and the strategists, policy and decision making communitty at regional, national and sectoral levels.
GLOBAL - LOCAL Issues GLOBAL
UNFCCC / IPCC + MEAs Hyogo Framework on Risk Reduction MDGs + SIDS BPOA / Mauritius Strategy Issues / Challenges: ST Contribution .. Peer
Review Process .. Model Building capacity .. Knowledge Demands on Climate and Global Systems .. Misinformation campaign by Fossil Fuel players .. SIDS / Group of 77 Tensions .. “Canary” Consortia (AOSIS Re Insurers Arctic collaboration)
Significant capacity challenges have been addressed. Increased consensus regarding the CRISIS!
Regional – National Rollout HEMISPHERIC / REGIONAL
Facilitating Actions Incongruence in Hemispheric / Regional / Political /
Technical Organs
REGIONAL CAPACITY Evolution DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS Support WMO + Academic + Research Networks structures STRATEGIES Based on Shared Risk Exposures
CPACC / MACC Focal Activity ISSUES
Further policy initiatives via ACS / ECLAC etcFurther policy initiatives via ACS / ECLAC etc National (in)security, trade, migration, livelihoodsNational (in)security, trade, migration, livelihoods Convergence of Risk Reduction AgendasConvergence of Risk Reduction Agendas
National – Local Rollout STATUS of NATIONAL Strategies, Policies,
Programmes and Projects, ACTION Plans? Capacity Issues – ST; Governance; Resarch Scale Issues
Scaling down GLOBAL SYSTEMS / MODELS Resilience
TOURISM, Agriculture, Energy Supply, Revenues, Livlihoods, Coastal+ Infrastructure
Mainstreaming Investment, Development, Culture Private Sector, Civil Society and Societal norms Hyogo Risk Reduction Framework
National and Local Action
Public Awareness Partnerships Policy and legislation Resource Mobilization incl Funding Institutional Arrangements Benchmarks and Indicators Implememtation / Enforcement Application of Studies
UNEP 1989 Climate Change Review as an example National Communications
2: Rhetoric/ BawloutAdvcacy
3 Logic +AnalysisST Inve- stment
4:
Policy +Laws +Implemen- tation
1:Inception Public outcry After incident/ disaster)
Developing / Evolving Risk Averse Disaster (Sensitive) Culture (nb High Social Science role And interdependency!)
5: Mainstreaming via Culture +Enforcement
Planning Processes must …• Cover credible scenarios, events and incidents, their
mitigation and their potential consequence(s)– Large, medium and small scale– Natural / Man induced / High / Low Probability– Effects on Human, Natural, Social and Economic
systems (not just Capital Assets)• Include “Extension” style Communication and Information
Management catering to all levels• Protect people, property, natural resources, physical
assets• Be based on systematic planning and a phased response• Cover all phases including return to ‘normalcy’• Be part of MAINSTREAM / CORE Functions of government
and its Private / Civil Society Partners in Small Island States
New Challenge:Reducing Climate Change Risk = Protecting the SOCIETY / Livelihoods / the ECONOMY
• TOURISM / AGRICULTURE / REVENUE STREAMS
• CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .. Sea Defense Works
• FINANCIAL SECTOR
• MARINE SERVICES
• GLOBALISED WORLD .. Manage Chain of Supply Issues including INFORMATION / PERCEPTIONS
Sensitisation / Vulnerability Awareness / Capacity Building systems must involve a chain of actors and processes Narrow “technical” conceptions of such systems leave weak links in the chain where failures occur (eg Warning System failures in Haiti 2004, Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004?) “Mainstreamed” = ‘infused’ into education and culture as well as the business and livelihood related societal value systems.
Shared Societal Knowledge of the risks faced by Communities = Risk ‘Culture’
‘Technical’ awareness = zoning, safer built env; & monitoring + Alert / Warn’g Services
Wide Formal and Informal Diffusion/ Dissemination of Useable risk info products
Knowledge and capacity for timely threat adaptation, mitigation, loss reduction action (pre, during, post incidents) at appropriate levels
Effective coping systems
Challenges
Knowledge Gap Continued need for Research and Knowledge at all
scales Capacity Gap
Climate Change challenge for Public Policy, Social and Resource Management Agencies
Enterprises and Private Sector Managers Implementation Gap
Are we fully utilising ALL the existing knowledge regarding Climate Change Impacts to increase RESILIENCE at all levels in all sectors?