Canari backs communities' input in tackling climate crisis

THE Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (Canari) has endorsed the use of locally-led adaption principles in supporting the most vulnerable communities to address climate change impacts, including in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), along with 50 other organisations globally.

"As global leaders committed to ambitious targets to tackle the climate crisis at the Leaders Summit on Climate on April 22, it is more important than ever that communities on the frontline have a voice in the decisions to ensure just and equitable outcomes," Canari said in a media release. The locally-led adaptation principles were developed to help local communities have more input and access to resources to adapt and build their resilience to climate change.

Development was facilitated by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), World Resources Institute (WRI) and International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), working with more than 50 other organisations under the Global Commission for Adaptation.

These principles resonate closely with Canari’s work, it said in the release. “Under Canari’s Strategic Plan 2021-2030, we will apply the locally-led adaptation principles as we implement our Resilience Programme to build the resilience of local communities, livelihoods and the ecosystems they depend upon to address climate change, disasters and linked development challenges in Caribbean SIDS in a holistic way,” said Dr Ainka Granderson, senior technical officer leading the Resilience Programme at Canari.

Granderson added that the institute’s “key areas of focus will be: ecosystem-based and community-based approaches to adaptation; capacity building of civil society organisations (CSOs), local communities and resource users to scale up adaptation actions; climate proofing natural resource-based enterprises and livelihoods; mobilising local and traditional knowledge; and enhancing gender equality, social justice and civil society’s access to finance.”

One key aspect of locally-led adaptation is ensuring that climate finance is delivered at the local level. Canari said it has long been promoting the role of civil society and community organisations in achieving this, and will be expanding its work as a regional intermediary, channelling funding to national and local organisations across the Caribbean who can deliver real change for people on the ground.

A current project supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on “Enhancing Caribbean Civil Society’s Access and Readiness for Climate Finance” is looking at how CSOs can better access climate finance and the hope is that findings of this work will be used to improve financing for locally-led adaptation. This project is being implemented by Canari in collaboration with national designated authorities to GCF across the Caribbean Community, with the Climate Change Division, Ministry of Housing, Urban Renewal, the Environment and Climate Change in Jamaica as the lead.

Canari said it will continue to strengthen mechanisms for participatory climate and disaster governance linking local, national and regional efforts. It will also leverage opportunities created by the new Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Escazú Agreement) that came into force on April 22, 2021, to advocate for greater transparency and accountability in climate action.

Canari sees climate action and building local resilience as a key part of the recovery to covid19. The institute has been calling on Caribbean governments, international organisations and donors to invest in restoring and conserving natural ecosystems and strengthening local community enterprises that depend on nature. Canari will be looking for locally-led climate adaptation to be a key part of covid19 recovery in the Caribbean for a more sustainable, just and resilient future.

For more info on the locally led adaptation principles, visit: https://www.iied.org/principles-for-locallyled-adaptation