Background
Global temperatures are projected to rise between 1.4 degrees C and 6.4 degrees C between 1990 and 2100 while global sea level rise is expected to rise by a meter or more in the same period (IPCC, 2007), (Copenhagen, March 2009). The latter will negatively affect the efforts of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to achieve the goals of sustainable development, including poverty/hardship reduction, given their higher vulnerability and lower adaptive capacity. This is expected to burden the Caribbean cities and affect a big mass of their inhabitants and infrastructure. UN-Habitat’s Sustainable Urban Development Network (SUD-Net) is a global initiative advising and providing capacity-building support to local authorities through innovative approaches and solutions to urban, national and regional development planning issues to develop livable, productive and inclusive cities and environmental sustainability The Cities in Climate Change Initiative (CCCI), a component of SUD-Net, enhances the adaptive capabilities and responsiveness of local government to the challenges of climate change by supporting their improvement of governance structures, promoting the participation of civil society, testing innovative financing and investment mechanisms, sustainable construction and building materials, designing and implementing targeted strategies and action plans. CCCI now is being implemented in different Pilot cities; Sorsogon, Esmeralda, Kampala, Maputo and will start in another 5 African cities. A similar initiative was prepared for the cities of Pacific SIDS. In this setting, the CCCI in this project is made to be operationalized in special circumstances of the Caribbean SIDS.
Objectives
- Develop a city platform of scientific data.
- Mainstream policy and help decision making to improve city planning and at emergency.
- Link stakeholders, local institutions, local and national level research and strengthen countries predictive capacities.
- Strengthen local capacities in monitoring and evaluating climate change impacts and utilizing information for the appropriate response;
- Develop local information on capacity building services; technical skills, tools, mechanisms. Ensure sustainability of local capacity.
Target group
- Pro-poor groups and infrastructure of cities vulnerable to the impacts of Global Warming