High Commissioner of Saint Kitts and Nevis to Canada, Ambassador Sherry Tross, will Sunday represent the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) at a European Union/Organisation of African Caribbean and Pacific States/United Nations Environment Programme High Level Event at COP15.
CARICOM delegates head to Montreal, Canada, for the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) (COP15) gearing up to create targets on biodiversity for the next decade.
The Conference, from December 7-19, will be held under the Presidency of China.
Importantly, the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is expected to be adopted during this second phase of the conference.
Active and informed youth participation is part of the process of empowerment and knowledge building in the Community. As a significant step in promoting a place for youth in decision-making on biodiversity-related issues, the Secretariat invites young persons to participate in the 2022 International day for Biological Diversity Youth Competition.
The Pacific Roundtable aims to drive high-impact and scalable initiatives for specific challenges relating to waste management in the Pacific region. These innovations should enhance the capability of Pacific countries and territories to deliver safe and sustainable waste management practices to prevent pollution-related issues that impact the health of the ocean and Pacific communities.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is currently providing technical assistance to Parties to implement Articles 4, 10 and 11 of the Minamata Convention on interim storage, disposal of waste in mercury-added products (MAPs) using guidelines from the Minamata Convention. More specifically, through twelve individual consultation meetings, a competency based training action plan is being developed and subsequent training programme with competent regional/sub-regional authorities will be rolled out during the period 19 August to 15 September 2021.
In order to strengthen the dialogue and participation process of youth of the region, the ACP MEAs Project represented the CARICOM Secretariat in a panel discussion on issues related to biodiversity and youth empowerment in the Global Framework of Biodiversity Post 2020 on 16 June 2021. The Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN) for Latin America and the Caribbean held its first intergenerational dialogue for biodiversity in LAC. CARICOM presented a summary of the presentations from experts during the 2020 Biodiversity Webinar Series to promote an urgency
The Caribbean Region’s life and livelihoods are intrinsically linked to coastal and marine environment. As we give further consideration to the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, it will require unprecedented innovations emanating from all sectors of society. This would be a necessary move to enable the region to cope with, respond to, and recover from the virus including from the deployment of sustainable ocean-based economies.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is the Caribbean Hub of the Programme for Capacity Building Related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries, known as the ACP-MEAs Programme.
Regional environmental officers are attending a workshop to help them prepare for a major international conference on biodiversity, to be held in Mexico in December. The CARICOM ACP-MEAs project is hosting the regional workshop October 11-13 at the Grand Coastal Hotel in Guyana.