October 3, 2017 – Basseterre; St. Kitts: The Hon Eugene Hamilton, Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources, Cooperatives, Environment and Human Settlement has warned that our response to climate change and its impacts cannot be business as usual.
His comments were made at a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Workshop held on Tuesday 3rd October 2017 at the Solid Waste Management Corporation Conference Room.
“We recently witnessed the ravages of hurricanes Irma and Maria whereby sectors such as tourism, infrastructure, agriculture, water, finance, etc., have been impacted in some form or other. Our very lives were and will continue to be under threat from storms such as these. In response to the current and projected impacts it is important that St. Kitts and Nevis undertake various initiatives that will reduce risks to humans and natural assets which comes from a changing climate and our vulnerability to climate change,” he stated.
“We must therefore implement the necessary measures to ensure that food security, public health and the availability of fresh and potable water will not be adversely impacted. The truth is, the world’s climate is changing and will continue to change at rates unprecedented in recent history. Further, productive sectors such as agriculture and tourism will continue to be adversely affected by what’s happening with climate change. We therefore cannot continue business as usual,” Minister Hamilton warned.
Hamilton called on all stakeholders to do their part to help mitigate against the impacts of climate change.
“St. Kitts-Nevis recognizes that for climate change impacts to be sustainably addressed it requires work from everyone. … So, I implore all persons within the public and private sector to participate and do their part as we tackle the adverse impacts of climate change. We all - individuals, experts, governments - have to come together to help reduce risks to climate change. As a region, we all have to watch each other’s back and hold each other’s hand. These incidents serve to encourage our brothers in our region to work together,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said that his government recognizes the importance of mitigation and adaptation and the need to develop a comprehensive strategy to address adaptation efforts. He also thanked the Department of Environment, the OECS Commission and the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) for its work in ensuring that St. Kitts-Nevis is able to respond to the ravages of climate change impacts.
“We need to ensure that the world remains habitable for generations to come,” he advised.
Eavin Parry, the Project Focal Point, gave an overview of the nature of the OECS-GCCA funded project. He stated that the OECS Commission is the executing agency for the sub-regional projects which seek to improve the region’s natural resource base and resilience to the impacts of climate change. The initiative is based on an effective and sustainable land management framework and practices and specific physical adaptation pilot projects in relevant areas and sectors that address land degradation issues. In St. Kitts there is the Revised OECS Building Codes project and in Nevis, the New River/Coconut Walk Slope Stabilization and Erosion Control Project.
Cheryl Jeffers, lead person for the St. Kitts-Nevis National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy briefly described local climate change impacts, vulnerabilities and the role of adaptation in St. Kitts and Nevis. She also noted the impacts of climate change on the various sectors of the economy and communities and stressed that education should be first and foremost when it comes to letting people know about what is happening.
Dr Ainka Granderson, lead consultant for the project and Senior Technical Officer at Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), gave an outline of the objectives of the Workshop. She indicated that the workshop is an attempt to get stakeholder input about the priorities for action regarding adaptation to climate change, to identify the specific measures and actions that can be taken, and determine the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies and partners in building resilience to climate change.
“In light of [hurricanes] Irma and Maria, one of the priority actions will be looking at extreme weather events such as hurricane and storm surge and how they might be affecting St. Kitts and Nevis in the future and what needs to be done,” said Dr. Granderson.
She also described important lessons to be learned from the impacts of hurricanes Irma and Maria on the OECS countries and identified the need for a new approach to building resilience against multiple impacts from hurricanes across the region.
The workshop was chaired by Sylvester Belle, Chief Conservation Officer at the Department of Environment and attended by representatives from the private and public sectors in St. Kitts-Nevis.
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