The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is implementing the Climate Change Adaptation of the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector Project (CC4FISH) with the aim of increasing resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change impacts in the Eastern Caribbean fisheries sector. A workshop on climate change adaptation and disaster risk management for fisheries brought together participants from eight Caribbean countries:

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting a workshop this week to help fisheries in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) improve their adaptation to climate change and disaster risk resilience.

Operating under the theme Implementing the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries, Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management in Fisheries Management Planning, the three-day workshop started … July 4 and will conclude … July 6 at the United Nations House in Barbados.

Over 30 participants representing eight Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago) are attending. They include Stephen Willoughby, Chief Fisheries Officer for the Government of Barbados, Crafton Isaac, Chief Fisheries Officer for the Government of Grenada, as well as Fisheries Officers and National Project Coordinators from across the Caribbean. Also in attendance are fisheries experts from FAO, the University of the West Indies (UWI), and participants from the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) and Coastal Zone Management Unit in Barbados.

The workshop is part of the larger Climate Change Adaption of the Eastern Caribbean Fisheries Sector Project, also known as CC4FISH and is being implemented by FAO. The Project was developed in response to the serious challenges confronting the Caribbean fisheries sector as a result of climate change.
Sessions are designed to demonstrate how an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) can be practically incorporated into different types of National Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs), such as Marine Protected Area (MPA) Plans and a Queen Conch Management Plan.

“The training is important as the fisheries sector is already suffering from the impacts of climate change which include coral bleaching, an increased frequency of high intensity storms and hurricanes, and sargassum influxes. All of these have negative effects on marine ecosystems, food security, and livelihoods. This very hands-on and practical training will improve the institutional capacity of fisheries officers and others to implement measures aimed at improving the sustainability of the fisheries while incorporating the changes experiences and foreseen as a result of climate change in the region with benefits for all involved in the sector,” said Dr Iris Monnereau, Regional Project Coordinator for the CC4FISH Project at the FAO Subregional Office for the Caribbean.

Read more in the full article from the Barbados Nation.

[Image: georg_neu]