(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Hon Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia will be the keynote speaker at the Second Caribbean Community Climate Change Conference slated for March 23-24, 2009, in Saint Lucia, under the theme: Mainstreaming Climate Change for the Sustainable Development of the Caribbean. Saint Lucia has lead responsibility for sustainable development in the quasi–Cabinet of the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government.
The two-day conference seeks to document and present the outputs of the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Project to the national governments and other stakeholders and to bring together key researchers and other climate change stakeholders to share experiences and visions for the future of the Caribbean under the influence of a changing climate regime in the 21st century.
The conference will be divided into two sections. The first will see the reporting on the outputs and outcomes of the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Project to the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) and other key stakeholders. The second section of the conference will consist of a formal conference where government officials, researchers and other climate change professionals and organizations will make key presentations in keeping with the theme of the conference.
Among the topics to be treated in the technical sessions of the conference are Genesis and Evolution of the Regional Approach to Climate Change in the Caribbean; Climate Change Research in The Caribbean: Current Status and Future Priorities and Opportunities; Integrating Energy Policies and Climate Change in the Development of the Caribbean: Possible Options for the Caribbean Governments; Adaptation to Climate Change – A Tool for the Economic and Social Development of the Region; Climate Change As A Generator of Employment In Key Economic Sectors of the Caribbean to 2030 and Forestry in The Caribbean: Mitigation and other Options for the Region
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre is based in Belize, and is the lead CARICOM agency on climate change and related matters in the region. It has been executing the MACC Project and other climate change projects since its inception in 2004.
