Significant strides have been made in the preparation of a national plan to ensure that Saint Lucia is ready for the impact of climate change, so said Deputy Chief Sustainable Development and Environment Officer, Dawn Pierre Nathoniel.
The Deputy Chief Environment Officer made her remarks prior to the launch of Saint Lucia’s National Adaptation Plan.
“Saint Lucia has been engaged in a national adaptation planning process for the past year. It is a means of identifying medium and long term climate change adaptation needs and being able to develop and implement strategies and programs to actually address those needs. Now, about one year later, we have completed our overarching National Adaptation Plan, (NAP) and that is through the efforts of technical staff and non-governmental stakeholders as well across various sectors,” she said.
With the pending launch of the NAP document, government staff are set to meet for a day-long training programme geared toward the development of Sectoral Adaption Strategies and Action Plans.
“On April 16, we will meet governmental staff for one day of training in the development of those Sectorial Adaption Strategies and Action Plans for adapting climate change,” Mrs. Nathoniel said. “That will allow those who have developed those plans to provide guidance to those who haven’t. Those who haven’t will be able to learn from the process so that when the funding becomes available we are able to roll quickly along and develop those SASAPs. Noting that we will already have our overarching National Adaptation Plan.”
The launch of the official NAP document is scheduled to take place on April 17.
“We will have two events, the government will launch our National Adaptation Plan document and present it to ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of departments at our NAP Assembly. Following that launch, during the second half of the day, we will be holding a special session for creators—whether it is artists or performers—and that is to provide guidance to such creators in the use of their skills in helping us raise awareness about our continuous efforts in adapting to climate change.”
All events will be held at the Finance Administrative Centre, Point Seraphine, Castries.
Related Articles