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Climate Change, COVID-19 And The Caribbean – Civil Societies Role In SIDS

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In 2015, in preparation for COP 21 in Paris, a number of civil society organizations came together to create awareness across the Caribbean to the threats to lives and livelihoods posed by climate change. The civil society advocacy campaign, which was built around the theme of “1.5 to stay alive”, caught the attention of Caribbean citizens and helped to amplify the voices in support of an ambitious, legally binding Paris Agreement. Five years later, despite the adoption and coming into force of the Paris Agreement, the dangers posed to Caribbean countries by climate change have not abated. Greenhouse gas emissions remain on a dangerously high trajectory, and every year brings with it new temperature records, alarming levels of polar ice melting, debilitating droughts and devastating floods.

This session examines the hazards posed to Caribbean and other Small Island Developing States by climate change and explores the role that civil society can play in mobilizing action to save SIDS and other climate-vulnerable countries from the existential threat posed by climate change.

Speakers:

James Fletcher

Managing Director, Soloricon

Dr James Fletcher is a former Minister for Public Service, Information, Broadcasting, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology in the Government of Saint Lucia.

Dr. Fletcher served as one of the chief high level negotiators for the Caribbean and the Association of Small Island States in the international climate change negotiations. He played a pivotal role in the adoption of the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change in December 2015.

Dr. Fletcher is also credited with leading one of the most ambitious sustainable energy programmes in the Caribbean, through an innovative model that leaned heavily on the creation of effective strategic partnerships. His work in bridging the digital divide in Saint Lucia, stimulating digital entrepreneurship, and enhancing the management of water resources is also highly lauded.

In 2019, Dr. Fletcher was chosen by the Chevening Scholarship program as one of the Chevening 35 Global Changemakers.

James Fletcher

Managing Director, Soloricon

Rueanna Haynes

Senior Legal Adviser, Climate Analytics

Rueanna Haynes is a climate law and governance expert with over a decade of experience in climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC where she has played a lead role in negotiations on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Ms Haynes also has extensive experience in the sustainable development process under the broader United Nations System where she was a lead negotiator in the SIDS Sustainable Development Process, and negotiated on behalf of CARICOM and the G77 and China for the elaboration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. For the past four years Rueanna has been a legal advisor with Climate Analytics gGmbH and now also leads Climate Analytics support for the chair of AOSIS. She is also a Senior Consultant with Independent Diplomat providing advice on the work of the High Ambition Coalition.
Rueanna Haynes

Senior Legal Adviser, Climate Analytics

Dizzanne Billy

Communications and Outreach Officer, Climate Tracker

Dizzanne Billy is communications and marketing specialist who enjoys applying her knowledge and practical experience to the environmental and climate change movement. She holds an MSc degree in Global Studies, having completed her thesis on the study of the effectiveness of global environmental governance in the biodiversity agenda. Dizzanne is the Communications and Outreach Officer for the global youth-led climate journalism network - Climate Tracker - and an active climate change communicator, publishing on climate change, participating, and leading discussions on the theme, locally, regionally, and internationally.
Dizzanne Billy

Communications and Outreach Officer, Climate Tracker

Jose Alison Kentish

Freelance Science and Health Journalist

Jose Alison Kentish is a Dominican-born, Saint Lucia-based journalist, who has reported extensively on climate change, the environment and disaster response.
Her first degree is in Criminal Justice and she recently completed the Master of Arts Degree in Science and Health Journalism at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She won a best thesis award for her story of Union Island’s 25-year journey to restoring Ashton Lagoon – one of the Caribbean’s most ecologically diverse bays, which was ripped apart and abandoned by investors.
She has covered climate and the environment for Helen Television in Saint Lucia, Latin-American television network teleSUR, the Inter Press Service’s Caribbean Climate Wire and AlertNet, the humanitarian news arm of the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Jose Alison Kentish

Freelance Science and Health Journalist

Nicole Leotaud

Executive Director, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

Nicole Leotaud is Executive Director of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and has more than 25 years’ experience working in environmental governance and management across the Caribbean. A conservation biologist by training, she has also worked in diverse areas related to green and blue economies, rural livelihoods and climate resilience. She has facilitated numerous multi-stakeholder processes, including supporting the United Nations Open Working Group and CARICOM negotiators with development of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and supporting Caribbean civil society’s role as partners in implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. She is an advocate on Caribbean sustainable development issues at global, regional and national levels.
Nicole Leotaud

Executive Director, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

Carlos Fuller

Regional and International Liaison Officer at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

Mr Carlos Fuller is the Regional and International Liaison Officer at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre. His primary responsibility is to coordinate CARICOM Member States in the international climate change negotiations. He is a Meteorologist and was the Chief Meteorologist in the National Meteorological Service of Belize. He has represented Belize in the climate change negotiation process since 1990. In that capacity he served as the Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC) in 2017 and 2018. He is presently the Chief Negotiator on Climate Change for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) under the Chairmanship of Belize. He is also the Special Advisor to the President of the Commission on Climatology of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on High-level Science-Policy Climate Related Issues. He holds the George Price Lifetime Achievement Award for Emergency Management and the Officer of the Order the British Empire (OBE) for public service.
Carlos Fuller

Regional and International Liaison Officer at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre

Sponsored by:

Soloricon

Soloricon is a consulting and advisory services company, dedicated to providing strategic support in our areas of expertise. Our solutions are practicable, cost effective and designed to make optimal use of your existing resources of partnerships, and these are an important element of our approach. We seek to develop partnerships with our clients, and between our clients and strategic agencies that can provide the level of support that is required for success.

Our consulting team has a wide range of experience in the areas which we cover, in both the public and private sectors.

Our focus is on the development challenges of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and developing countries. We strive to help these countries confront and overcome the obstacles to their sustainable development. Equally importantly, we help them identify opportunities and take advantage of these so that they can find themselves on a long term growth and development trajectory.

in Saint Lucia, stimulating digital entrepreneurship, and enhancing the management of water resources is also highly lauded.