The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), which advises on and coordinates climate change-related policies in the Caribbean Community (Caricom), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have launched a virtual course on climate adaptation and risk management in the region. The course will enable decision-makers and local communities to incorporate climate resilience into their planning processes.

The course provides a guide on how to utilise the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool (CCORAL). Created by the CCCCC, the digital platform allows for assessing the climate change risks that a project carried out in a Caribbean country could face.

The tool promotes a regional approach to risk management and supports climate-compatible development models.

“The virtual course, created with support from Willis Towers Watson and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, will enable participants to better understand the climate risks to which projects in the Caribbean may be exposed. It will also teach them how to utilise the CCORAL tool to identify these risks and design responses that boost the climate resilience and capacity for climate adaptation of those projects,” commented Willie Chan, technical coordinator of the IICA delegation in Belize.

He also noted that the development of these online courses “demonstrates IICA’s ability to offer these types of services to partners, through teamwork and active communication”.

CCORAL is available at https://ccoral.caribbeanclimate.bz/. Users can select a specific Caribbean country to learn more about its climate and the tool features that are available for that country.

The CCCCC periodically delivers the course on how to utilise the tool, which was developed with IICA’s involvement. Course offerings are announced on the centre’s website and social media, as well as on the CCORAL website.

Teamwork

CCORAL was developed in collaboration with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), for use by the public, private and academic sectors.

The CCCCC developed the tool in 2013 in the form of an in-person course as part of its efforts to address Caribbean countries’ vulnerability to climate change and improve the incorporation of resilience strategies into their development planning. In 2022, IICA transformed it into a fully online course, which enables users to assess, address and analyse potential climate impacts for small-, medium- and large-scale projects.

The tool has been implemented in all Caricom member countries. Approximately 800 partners in those countries have received training on the use of the tool.

Since 2006, IICA has been collaborating in transforming in-person courses to virtual ones, as was done with CCORAL.

Furthermore, since 2018, more than 18,000 individuals from more than 80 countries have participated in the institute’s e-learning courses on topics such as family farming, animal health and climate change.