The Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (GEF IWEco) Project’s Third Regional Project Steering Committee Meeting (RPSC 3) will take place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic from 2nd – 4th April 2019.
Ten countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago) are participating in the Project which began in September 2016 and which addresses water, land and biodiversity resource management as well as climate change.
Participating countries, implementing and executing agencies and Project partners will:
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provide updates on the status of national projects and regional support initiatives;
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discuss and approve the proposed draft work plan and budget for the year 2019;
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provide updates on the status of GEF Small Grants projects and coordination mechanisms between national projects and GEF Small Grants projects (UNDP); and
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identify opportunities for collaboration with other regional programmes, projects and activities.
Since the last RPSC in Cuba in February 2018, all participating countries have signed their Project Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) with UNEP, enabling national interventions to begin. Projects in Saint Lucia, Cuba and Trinidad & Tobago are well-underway. Others are in early stages, having launched in recent months.
In August 2018, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), which is responsible for executing Component 2 (strengthening of monitoring and indicators) and, in collaboration with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Component 3 (strengthening of policy, legislative and institutional reforms and capacity building), signed its PCA with UN Environment and began its activities. Among these have been the convening of the first meetings of two partnerships, one for Research (November 2018), the other for Governance (March 2019).
Participants anticipate an eventful meeting which will also see the launch of IWEco’s website, making Project information and resources widely available.
The IWEco Project has four components:
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Development and Implementation of Integrated Targeted Innovative, climate-change resilient approaches in sustainable land management (SLM), integrated water resources management (IWRM) and maintenance of ecosystem services;
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Strengthening of the land, water resources and ecosystems monitoring, and Indicators framework;
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Strengthening of the Policy, legislative and institutional reforms and capacity building for land, water resources and ecosystem services management taking into consideration climate change resilience building, and
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Enhancing knowledge exchange, best practices, replication and stakeholder involvement.
UN Environment is the lead Implementing Agency for national and regional sub-projects and the United Nations Development Programme is the co-implementing agency with responsibility for community-based livelihoods opportunities through the GEF-Small Grants Programme. The other co-executing agency will be the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA). Several national and regional institutions as well as the private sector will be involved in this regional programme.
For more information contact:
Donna Sue Spencer
Communications Specialist
IWEco Project
donna.spencer@un.org
