3 February 2012: The subregional headquarters for the Caribbean of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) recently convened an expert group to discuss the status of regional efforts to develop economic frameworks to assess the economic and social impacts of climate change in the Caribbean in key sectors.

The expert group, which met in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, from 2-3 February 2012, assessed progress made in the data gathering process, the successes as well as the challenges encountered, with a view to facilitating discussion on measures that may be adopted to overcome these challenges and fill key data gaps. The state of data for the agricultural and coastal/marine sectors was examined for 16 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. The group also examined preliminary data for the energy, health, water and tourism sectors in participating countries.

The next expert group meeting, tentatively scheduled for November 2012, will hold a substantive discussion of probable social and economic impacts based on improved data from the 16 countries.

ECLAC’s subregional headquarters, with funding from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and working in cooperation with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), has pursued, since 2008, projects to help Caribbean Governments assess the economic impacts of climate change on their countries. [IISD RS Sources]