sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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strategies, develop mechanisms for regional collaboration, identify sources of international assistance and
strengthen the legal authority for enforcement. The lack of basic data and/or statistics for developing
<strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> indicators, insufficient understanding of indicators and their application in
decision-making, lack of political will, lack of financial and human resources and a decrease in official
<strong>development</strong> assistance are all major barriers to the successful <strong>development</strong> and implementation of such
strategies (ECLAC, <strong>20</strong>10b).
2. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Vulnerability to climate change is a major challenge for SIDS and one of their key common issues.
Caribbean SIDS have made considerable progress in addressing the challenges of climate change and
implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the Climate Change
Convention). National communications to the Convention secretariat 2 include a first report sent by all
Caribbean SIDS beginning in <strong>20</strong>00 and a second report sent by Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, the
Dominican Republic and Jamaica. Some key areas of progress are listed below:
(i) Greenhouse gas emissions reporting. Most Caribbean SIDS have established climate change
committees responsible for overseeing the preparation of national communications under the
Climate Change Convention. In addition, Caribbean SIDS have calculated anthropogenic
greenhouse gas emissions and removal by sinks, following the Revised 1996 Guidelines for
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
(ii) Climate modelling. An ongoing collaborative climate modelling effort by the Institute of
Meteorology of Cuba, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre and Mona and
Cave Hill Campuses of the University of the West Indies has published climatic temperature
and precipitation projections that have enabled Caribbean SIDS to plan for adaptation to and
mitigation of climate change. The activities of the Water Centre for the Humid Tropics of
Latin America and the Caribbean have complemented this work for the Dominican Republic
(and Mesoamerica) by assessing the vulnerability of ecosystems and their constituent species
to climate change (UNEP, <strong>20</strong>08). There are also new opportunities for climate research in the
region through the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)
(ECLAC, <strong>20</strong>10a), which was initiated in <strong>20</strong>10 and is expected to generate new and more
abundant information for climate change projections and planning. Building climate
modelling capacity across the region will help raise awareness and enhance the ability of
States to consider adaptation and mitigation options with a view to effective policy
<strong>development</strong> and strategic action aligned with the Climate Change Convention and
Caribbean challenges.
(iii) Adaptation. Given their low contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions, Caribbean
SIDS have prioritized adaptation in mitigating climate change effects (Trotz, <strong>20</strong>08; UNDESA,
<strong>20</strong>10a). The majority of Caribbean SIDS have participated in the Global Environment
Facility-funded Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Climate Change (CPACC) project and
its ensuing initiatives, which include Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change,
Adaptation to Climate Change in the Caribbean and the Special Programme for Adapting to
Climate Change. Under the CPACC project, countries formulated initial adaptation policies,
2
National communications and reports from non-Annex I parties [online] http://unfccc.int/national_reports/non annex_
i_natcom/items/2979.php [date of reference: December <strong>20</strong>11].