19 September 2011: The 15th issue of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) News Update features articles on the call by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for climate negotiators to redouble their efforts, the small island developing States (SIDS) inter-regional preparatory meeting on the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), the 20th Small Island States leaders’ meeting, and Caribbean regional news.

The news update notes that Secretary-General Ban has rejected criticism that little progress has been made in recent rounds of global climate talks, and urges the Conference of the Parties (COP) at its 17th session in Durban, South Africa, to agree on ambitious mitigation targets. It also notes that the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) has decided to submit its proposed elements for UNCSD through the G77/China rather than separately.

On regional issues, the update highlights: the 24-28 October Caribbean Regional Writeshop for young scholars, practitioners, policymakers and others from the Caribbean working in the field of climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR), co-hosted by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the University of the West Indies; a partnership forged between two nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Panos Caribbean and Germanwatch, to help Jamaica increase its capacity to access and manage funds to deal with climate change; and the new 15-island Caribbean radio drama co-sponsored by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and PCI-Media Impact that aims to raise awareness of the importance of coral reefs, mangroves and forests in combating climate change. [Publication: CCCCC News Update Issue 15]