FRIGATE BAY, St. Kitts, Jun 20 2015 – Antigua & Barbuda is in line to benefit from more than EC $39 million in funding to help the country cope with the impacts of climate change.
The project is being implemented by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) secretariat with funding coming from the European Union Global Climate Change Alliance.
Project Manager Chamberlain Emanuel said the initiative will focus mainly on the proper use of land resources with a combination of both “soft” and “hard” projects to be unrolled throughout the sub-region.
A component of the project will deal with beefing up laws for proper use of land and another will be “helping the different agencies with tools, training, and equipment towards land management.”
There will also be a public education component “to improve awareness on the risks, threats and opportunities arising from climate change from the regional and national levels.”
But Emanuel said the programme, which has not yet begun the implementation phase, will be designed to continue long after the funding runs out.
The EU’s Global Climate Change Alliance (EU GCCA) is an EU level political and financial instrument established in 2007.
Its aim is to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on climate change between the EU and developing countries most vulnerable to climate change, in particular Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Since the establishment of the EU GCCA, approximately EUR 300 million has been disbursed for 38 national and eight regional projects.
