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Effective Planning And Construction Considerations For Resilient Islands Infrastructure

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A recent surge of natural disasters affecting islands have called into focus the issue of resilient infrastructure for reduction in loss of life, property and economic gains. Unsustainable construction practices and poor planning amplify the impacts of both natural and manmade disasters offsetting the developmental gains made over several years. The projections of impending increases in climate-related hazards underscore the need to reassess what early mitigation measures can be incorporated in the planning, designing and construction of infrastructure on islands.

This panel will consider what resilient infrastructure can be expected to look like in the context of islands and more explicitly, Small island Developing States (SIDS). It will help identify some critical hard and soft interventions that support more resilient infrastructure on islands. It will examine what factors can assist in prioritizing these measures, particularly in the face of limited financial and human resources. The panel will identify the key stakeholders in the process of planning for resilience and how best to design and coordinate such efforts to enable timely interventions that are resource efficient. It will also propose innovative and financing strategies that support smart planning and infrastructure for islands.

Session Speakers:

CHAMBERLAIN EMMANUEL

Head of the Environmental Sustainability Cluster at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States

Chamberlain Emmanuel is Head of the Environmental Sustainability Cluster (ESC) at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, headquartered in Saint Lucia. His portfolio includes oversight of programme and projects spanning: Climate Change and Disaster Resilience; Biodiversity and Ecosystems; Land and Water Resources; Oceans Governance and Fisheries; Sustainable Energy; and Chemicals, Waste and Pollution Management.
His journey at the OECS commenced in February 2010, after transitioning from service to the Government of Saint Lucia starting February 2001 in capacities as Chief Engineer (A/g), Contracts Manager and Civil/Project Engineer.
As a Civil Engineer and Project Management Professional with nearly twenty (19+) years of practical experience, Chamberlain has acquired and demonstrated competences and expertise in infrastructure and development projects and programmes funded by several diverse international development agencies.
Chamberlain Emmanuel

Head of the Environmental Sustainability Cluster at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States

CLETUS I. SPRINGER

Former Chairman of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

Mr. Cletus I. Springer has been engaged in SIDS-related planning and sustainable development for nearly 3 decades. A trained Urban Planner, he has served (since 2008) as Director of the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS, based in Washington D.C.
Before joining the OAS, Mr. Springer served as: Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Tourism & Public Utilities, (1992-94); and Planning, Development, Environment and Housing (1994-97); and Adviser in Policy and Strategy Development with the OECS Secretariat, (1998-2001). Between 2001 and 2008, Mr. Springer ran a consulting practice that advised Governments in the Caribbean, Asia and Pacific regions, as well as inter-governmental entities such as CARICOM, UNDP, ECLAC, the Commonwealth Secretariat, World Bank, PAHO, and the OAS, among others
He is a former Chairman of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI). He serves as a member of the Board of PANOS Caribbean; and as Program Adviser on Green Economy with CANARI.
He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies (Public Administration and Mass Communications); Oxford Brooks University (Urban Planning); and Aberdeen University (Environmental Impact Assessment).
Cletus I. Springer

Former Chairman of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

PAUL DURRANT

Innovation & Technology Strategy lead, IRENA

Paul has over 20 years’ experience of shaping UK and international innovation policies and programmes. In January 2018 Paul joined IRENA’s Innovation & Technology Centre in Germany. There he leads on strategy and engagement with the aim of fostering deeper international partnership working to accelerate the adoption of the renewable energy technologies.

Paul graduated with a PhD in Nuclear Physics from the UK’s University of Southampton before taking on technology policy roles in the UK Home Office and Department for Transport. For 10 years Paul led on Energy Innovation Policy & Strategy in the UK’s Department of Energy & Climate Change and the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. From Autumn 2015 onwards Paul led UK engagement with the Mission Innovation initiative and later became Head of Mission Innovation’s Secretariat.

Paul Durrant

Innovation & Technology Strategy lead, IRENA

JUDITH EPHRAIM

Programme Coordinator, Sustainable Energy Unit at Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission

Judith Ephraim joined the Sustainable Energy Unit at the OECS Commission in July 2015. Prior to that she served as the Chief Energy, Science and Technology Officer of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology in Saint Lucia. Over the past 14 years, Ms Ephraim has worked on a number of portfolios in the Government of Saint Lucia including, Sustainable Energy, Science and Technology, Climate Change and Hazard/ Disaster mitigation. Ms Ephraim holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Geoscience from the University of Bristol UK, and a MSc in Resources Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) in Germany.
Judith Ephraim

Programme Coordinator, Sustainable Energy Unit At Organisation Of Eastern Caribbean States Commission

Angus Friday

Executive Chairman of the Atlantean BioSphere Program

and co-chair of the Blue Innovation Institute and also serves as an adviser to the Caribbean Climate Smart Accelerator, a multi-stakeholder platform with the potential to help catalyse over $1 billion to assist Caribbean nations in creating the World’s First Climate Smart Zone. Friday serves as the local lead for the Climate Smart Cities project supported by the Green Climate Fund which seeks to make St. George’s the first Climate Smart Capital City in the Caribbean. He is also the developer of Myristic Mountain a sustainable agri-tourism project in the north of Grenada, where he is supporting the development the northern coastal cluster. More recently, he was selected to lead the Blue Economy Round Table, on the occasion of the visit of His Royal Highness, Prince Charles, to Grenada.
Angus recently completed a 5-year diplomatic tour of duty as Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States, Mexico and the OAS and also as Grenada’s High Commissioner to Canada. As Ambassador, Angus played a leading role in the inception of the Caribbean Climate Smart Coalition and in Grenada’s role as chair of the World Bank’s Small States Forum.
Angus Friday

Executive Chairman of the Atlantean BioSphere Program

Sponsored by:

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster.OECS currently has eleven members which together form a continuous archipelago across the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. The membership of OECS is comprised of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Monserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique are also associate members of OECS.