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Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Drainage, Daphne Kellman. (A.Miller/BGIS)??

Climate change is making it even more difficult for CARICOM-member states and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to achieve sustainable economies.

Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment and Drainage, Daphne Kellman, made this point today as she addressed the official opening of the second regional workshop on Climate Change Modelling and Adaptation in the Caribbean, and the second annual meeting of the Caribbean Climate Modelling Group.

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??Some of the participants attending this morning’s official opening ceremony. (A.Miller/BGIS)

Speaking to participants in The Roy Marshall Teaching Complex at the University of the West Indies, Ms. Kellman said the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified this global phenomena as the most serious threat to the long-term socio-economic development of SIDS.

Among the impacts of climate change outlined, were increasing episodes of bleaching and death of coral reefs, declining crop yields, decreased water availability, stronger tropical storms or cyclones and increased erosion and flooding associated with sea level rise.

"The impacts of a changing climate are extremely cross-cutting, and affect major economic and social sectors such as public health, food security, and the provision of energy and disaster management services," the Deputy Permanent Secretary pointed out.

However, she stressed that a regional approach to addressing climate change was one of the critical factors needed to build resilient and sustainable Caribbean societies.

As a result, Ms. Kellman added, the Barbados Government regarded the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) as a key institution to attending to the important role of harmonising the response of the CARICOM Community to the climate change challenge.

"Improved national and regional capacity to perform vulnerability assessments, collect and analyse a variety of climate monitoring datasets and make impact predictions, which are being addressed through this workshop, are fundamental to our efforts to increase our collective resilience to the climate change," she said.

The training course was developed by the Climate Studies Group Mona of the UWI, Mona Campus, and the Cuban Institute of Meteorology on behalf of the CCCCC. The workshop’s aim is to train persons in the use of critical data and equip them with the necessary tools.

It is expected to address Climate Change; Climate Change Projections; Communicating Climate Change; Risk and Vulnerability Analysis; Disaster Risk Reduction and Children in the Caribbean, and the Economics of Climate Change.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

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