THE workshop put on by the ProVention Consortium last week was the latest in a series of efforts forming part of a Caribbean response to climate change and its expected negative impacts on the lives and livelihoods of people in the region.

The workshop, staged in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies at the Cascadia Hotel in Trinidad, was geared at helping to promote the involvement of communities in climate change adaptation. The two-day event attracted more than 30 participants from across a range of sectors in Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, The Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, and Trinidad.

Only a week earlier, Jamaica held its post-Bali press conference to bring the public up to speed on developments at last December's United Nations climate change conference.

That conference, held in Bali, Indonesia, comprised the 13th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the third Meeting of the Parties (COP/MOP) to the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol, among other things, sets binding greenhouse gas emission targets for signatories to the agreement.

The achievements, according to Jamaica's chief negotiator Clifford Mahlung, included the Adaptation Fund, whose board is to meet for the first time next month; and an agreement on technology transfer.

Only days before the post-Bali press conference, the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) held a meeting at the University of the West Indies, Mona which saw the participation of scientists from the region - notably Professor Anthony Chen and Dr John Agard. They were joined by others, including at least one member of the legal fraternity and representatives from the Met Office.

Importantly, the meeting noted that there is ongoing research on the effects of climate change on biodiversity (coastal and marine, as well as terrestrial). That meeting also revealed that there were ongoing investigations into the state of knowledge on climate change in the region.

All these meetings indicate that positive steps are being taken toward ensuring that the Caribbean, if nothing else, is informed about climate change and its effects, including the effects on biodiversity, such as that caused by warmer temperatures which could have implications for people in agriculture and fisheries, as well as for the players in the tourism industry. There are also potential negative effects for the region's water resources, and for public health since warmer temperatures will cause an increase in the incidents of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue.

But while there are certainly positive steps being taken to have the region deal with the range of climate issues, there are several challenges. They include:
. bridging the gap between scientists conducting climate change research and community people;
. getting communities and community-based organisations (CBOs) to contribute in a substantive way to identifying the effects of climate change on communities and in the formulation of strategies to stymie the fallout from a changing climate; in addition to

. getting politicians up to date on research on climate change and persuading them to act on the findings.

There is also the challenge of accessing and mobilising resources required to see to the implementation of climate strategies through to fruition. In addition, there is the challenge of getting the private sector in the know on the challenges presented by a changing climate, as well as on the importance of partnering with communities and other stakeholders.

So there is some progress on a climate change response in the Caribbean. The word is getting out and people are beginning to brainstorm on possible strategies for adaptation and disaster risk reduction. However, there is a still a far way to go.

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