A total of fifty (50) participants comprising local and regional stakeholders are currently gathered at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort for the October 03-04 South-South Structural regional dialogue on climate finance.
The dialogue, which is held under the theme: ‘Navigating the Accreditation Process to Access Climate Finance for Direct Access Entities,’ is facilitated by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) and sponsored by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
At the opening ceremony on October 03, Minister of Environment and Climate Action, the Honourable Senator Dr. Joyelle Clarke said that for the first time in St. Kitts and Nevis’ ministerial portfolios climate action has been given a level of “prominence.”
“Climate Action and the work we are doing here with GCF communicates the urgency with which our country must treat Climate Change and climate resilience in particular. More importantly, it calls us to action whether in our own communities, as civil service organizations, educational institutions and private sector organizations,” said the Honourable Dr. Clarke.” “And at the local and regional level, we have to work concertedly to ensure that we fight climate change.”
Dr. Clarke noted that St. Kitts and Nevis will continue to play its part to combat the negative impacts of climate change.
“The ability to set ambitious targets for our region is neither the problem nor the solution. St. Kitts and Nevis’s Nationally Determined Contribution (2021) has set an ambitious target of reducing economy-wide CO2 emissions by 61% by 2030 when compared to base-year 2010,” said Dr. Clarke. “The vision of our Climate Change Policy (2017) is for St. Kitts and Nevis to be at the forefront with respect to climate-resilient development in the Caribbean region. Further, our Climate Change Strategy (2018) highlights the importance of ‘mobilizing external climate finance to support effective adaptation planning and implementation.”
Participants involved in the climate finance dialogue hail from Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, as well as host country St. Kitts and Nevis.