Excerpt and Photo from caymannewsservice.com
Representatives from more than 20 ministries and departments recently attended a pilot workshop of the Cayman Islands Resilience Index (CIRI) and Investment Guidance Tool, a new online platform designed to strengthen climate resilience planning and support evidence-based decision-making.
Developed under the Ministry for Health, Environment and Sustainability (MHES), these tools are intended to help the government assess national resilience and evaluate how future investments and projects contribute to its climate resilience goals.
The government has set out defined energy and climate policies, but current local planning laws don’t even encourage, let alone mandate, sustainable or resilient development.
The Cayman Islands are woefully unprepared for the impacts of climate change, and their natural defences are being steadily depleted by the continued destruction of wetlands, the clearing of pristine habitat, and building coastal development far too close to the sea.
Officials said the introduction of these new tools is a step towards addressing sustainability and resilience across government. One official from the sustainability ministry said it is a critical starting point for collectively understanding what resiliency represents in the Cayman context and applying it to identify the resilience gap and effectively utilise public funds to safeguard lives and enhance livelihoods.