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Communicating the draft Caribbean position paper on green economy in the Caribbean

Countries: Caribbean  Dates / Term: December 2011 – January 2012  Funders:  Partners:  Project amount: US $15,600  Goal and objectives:
  • To identify and raise awareness amongst key actors about imperatives of a green economy – at national, regional and global levels.
  • To build a Caribbean position, endorsed by key stakeholders, on the creation of a green economy that is used at the Rio+20 Conference and other high profile events.
Activities: a.    Establish and facilitate a Caribbean Green Economy Action Learning Group (GE ALG): Draft Terms of Reference for the Caribbean Green Economy Action Learning Group (GE ALG) were developed and circulated to a list of potential GE ALG members, who were selected to represent key economic sectors (e.g. tourism, agriculture, energy), types of actors (government, private sector, civil society, and academia) and across the countries of the region. A virtual meeting was held on October 21st 2012 to review these TOR.  Several key stakeholders informally committed and participated in activities. A meeting of a small sub-group of the GE ALG was planned for January 31st 2012 in conjunction with a regional meeting of CANARI’s project on Sustainable consumption and production in the Francophone Caribbean to enable inclusion of additional key stakeholders from Haiti, Dominica and Saint Lucia. b.   Develop a communication strategy for the dialogue process in the Caribbean through targeted and broad dissemination of the position paper and facilitated discussions, especially with key sectors (e.g. tourism, energy, agriculture, private sector, labour), to further develop this position: After almost one year of discussions on the draft position paper, no significant input or revisions were suggested.  Therefore it was decided that this should be turned into a CANARI Policy Brief and disseminated.  A draft strategy was developed to guide dissemination to take place in the next phase of work. c.    Feed the developing Caribbean position on green economy into national and regional consultation and policy processes  taking place in the Caribbean: Sharing of the draft position paper continued, including: [su_expand more_text=”Click here for more activities” less_text=”See less” height=”0″ link_color=”#A06B90″]
  • Ms Nicole Leotaud of CANARI presented the paper and it was formally recognised at the CARICOM Fourth Joint Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), Georgetown, Guyana (29th – 20th August, 1st-2nd September, 2011). The CARICOM submission to Rio+20 zero draft, however, did not substantially reflect the ideas in the position paper and additional advocacy was needed, including directly to national delegations.
  • Ms Keisha Sandy of CANARI met with the Suriname Conservation Funding in October 2011 on the initiative by a group of private sector companies to go green.
  • Ms Anna Hadeed of CANARI discussed and shared the paper at the Trinidad and Tobago national consultation held on November 14th 2011 in preparation for Rio+20.  The Government of Trinidad and Tobago expressed interest in following up.
  • Ms Nicole Leotaud of CANARI shared the position paper with the Commonwealth Secretariat in November 2011, which expressed interest in involving the Caribbean in SIDS discussions on green economy.
  • Mr McHale Andrew, a member of the GE ALG and a former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance in Saint Lucia and former Executive Director of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, represented CANARI at the Green Growth Forum held in Mexico in January 2012.
  • The paper was disseminated to Grenada’s Ministry of Finance by a civil society partner in Grenada, People In Action, and the Ministry expressed interest in following up.
d.   Participate in the GEC fifth global meeting, London, 14-16 November 2011: Nicole Leotaud of CANARI participated in this meeting and presented key ideas and lessons emerging from the Caribbean, and plans moving forward to develop the Caribbean GE ALG.  CANARI reviewed and signed on as a partner in a proposal by the GEC submitted to the EU on February 1st 2012, including a component supporting the continued Caribbean dialogue and involvement of civil society in green economy initiatives.    [/su_expand] Results:
  • Increased understanding by Caribbean stakeholders of the importance of green economy principles in the region and opportunities for concrete action. Sharing of the draft position paper and presentations and discussion at regional and national meetings deepened the understanding of Caribbean stakeholders of green economy and its importance to the development of Caribbean economies, and specific relevant initiatives in sectors and countries the Caribbean.
  • Representation of Caribbean perspectives on green economy at international fora and building international partnerships. Participation at the Green Economy Coalition meeting, the Green Growth Forum held in Mexico in January 2012, and networking with stakeholders there and the Commonwealth Secretariat were important opportunities to share what Caribbean stakeholders are saying about green economy and to start to identify and develop partnerships to work on this.  In particular, this represents an independent and inclusive voice   that is distinct from formal government positions being submitted in Rio+20 discussions.
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  • Influencing the regional discussion on the green economy at the policy level. Several participants and other key stakeholders invited CANARI and the coordinating team to attend discussions within their organisations and countries on the green economy.  Presentations were made to CARICOM to encourage consideration of ideas from the draft position paper in national and regional policy making in preparation for Rio+20.  CARICOM recognised the credible input that could be made into official regional and national positions and policy by the CANARI-facilitated stakeholder dialogue process.
  • Built commitment of Caribbean participants. There was continued increased interest of Caribbean stakeholders in moving towards a green economy in the region and a drive to include the ideas developed in national and regional discussions and positions being developed for Rio+20, as well as to collaborate on action to test green economy approaches in specific sectors.  Several partners committed to be involved in the Caribbean Green Economy Action Learning Group.
  [/su_expand] Lessons learned:
  • Additional advocacy is needed directly targeting delegations from the Caribbean on the key principles on green economy in the Caribbean context so that these can be included in national positions for Rio+20.  There are opportunities for direct engagement of key Ministries in discussions on this.
  • Holding a physical meeting of GE ALG members is essential to build understanding and commitment and to facilitate input into the programme of work.
  • There are several existing international, regional, national and sectoral initiatives that can be linked with a regional programme of work on green economy.  These need to be directly targeted to build partnerships.
  • The position paper needs to be communicated more widely to key stakeholders.
  • Translation of the position paper into French and Spanish is needed.
  • Securing additional funding is essential for a comprehensive programme of work on green economy in the Caribbean.
 Key documents:   For more information contact: Related programmes:
CANARI