(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Representatives from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat are currently visiting Member States to assess their current position regarding statistics on the environment.

The team from the Secretariat’s Regional Statistics Programme is currently in Antigua and Barbuda after leaving Dominica on Thursday following a two-day visit. The team moves on to Jamaica on Monday, 26 November.

The mission is being undertaken with support from the Caribbean Hub-sub-component of the European Commission-funded Capacity Building related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The exercise targets National Statistical Offices, MEA focal points, ministries and environment departments and agencies engaged in the production and use of environment statistics in the areas of forestry, land use and agriculture, coastal and marine resources and biodiversity.

The main aim of the exercise is to strengthen inter-agency coordination to fill any gaps in environment statistics in the area of biodiversity. Additionally, the team will assess the environment statistics produced by Member States and other agencies, with particular reference to the reporting requirements of biodiversity-related MEAs.

The team will review data collection mechanisms adopted by the statistical office and other agencies.

In addition, CARICOM staff members will highlight to MEA focal point agencies, the Secretariat’s role in the collection and dissemination of data that supports reporting to biodiversity-related MEAs. Ultimately it is expected that as a subset of the wider statistical needs on the environment, there would be increased understanding of the indicators that are required to inform policy, better harmonization within and across countries in their measurement and more effective inter-agency collaboration to sustain the production of these indicators.