Mainstreaming island climate resilience – It’s about people: their perspectives, preparedness and practices

Photo: EbA Project. Retrieved from blog.iica.int

‘Climate change’, ‘climate crisis’, ‘climate catastrophes’ are frequently used terms in the media, by policymakers and more recently, by the average community dweller. However, not everyone has a common perspective on what these terms mean and how they impact their respective lives, livelihoods and situations. This is part of the problem why there is no unanimous consent for climate action, or even what the focus of climate action should be. A May 30th, 2023, interview on the CBS Sunday Morning show, quoted Arnold Schwarzenegger as saying that ‘as long as they keep talking about global climate change, they are not gonna go anywhere. Cause no one gives a s— about that’. He continued, ‘we’re talking about pollution. Pollution creates climate change, and pollution kills’. I am left wondering who is the ‘they‘ that is being referred to; should it now be ‘we‘?

Access to climate financing is essential to countries like those participating in the IICA-CBF EbA project. In global climate change talks, small island states are now referring to themselves as ‘big ocean islands’. It is estimated that they contribute less than 0.2 % of global carbon emissions and yet are on the receiving end of the injustices of catastrophic climate impacts, with limited resources to rehabilitate and recover, to ensure growth and build resiliency. On the matter of climate financing, Theresa Sanderson, of the CBF, alerted participants at the Symposium of a mechanism of ‘perpetual financing’ pursed by the CBF through management of an Endowment Fund for 11 Caribbean countries. Interest generated from this fund can be utilised by National Conservation Trust Funds (NCTFs) to provide grants based on their country’s established priorities and sectors. The endowment fund is itself, supported by specific governments through specific projects. However, as indicated by Sanderson, ‘this innovative mix of endowment and projects is a good model for ensuring that conservation financing is not always looking for the next donor or depending on the next project.’

In terms of what next, Gregg Rawlins, IICA Representative in the Eastern Caribbean States, summed it up by saying that the EbA project closing symposium ‘provides a very important platform for us to collectively consider how we sustain some of these actions moving forward, especially as too often we Implement projects that are well intended, with very laudable objectives but when the project comes to an end, that’s also the end of the activity. There is a need to continue the conversation about sustaining these actions moving forward, so, that down the road, one could still see activities that are ongoing, activities that have been inspired, activities that are making an impact based on these interventions.’