Green Economy Initiatives in the Caribbean

Presentation to Expert Workshop on Green Growth and Development Planning and Policy

Michael WitterSALISES, UWI, Mona

and CANARI

Visions and Plans

• Governments are committing themselves to building green economies in their long term plans for sustainable development– Jamaica has prepared Vision 2030– Barbados has committed itself to being the

most environmentally advanced ‘green country in Latin America and the Caribbean”

– Since then, it has drafted a scoping study for a green economy as part of a UNEP project that envisions similar studies for Jamaica, St. Lucia and Haiti

Visions and Plans

• Dominica Organic Development Policy Framework and low carbon climate resilient development strategy

• Saint Lucia developing a national vision• Grenada Alternative Growth and Poverty Reduction

Strategy• Dominican Republic Climate Compatible Development

Strategy• British Virgin Islands environmental mainstreaming• Trinidad and Tobago valuation of ecosystem services

into national accounting

Visions and Plans

• Guyana has adopted a “low carbon development strategy”

• Cuba’s organic agricultural revolution has recovered the lost ground in food supply with the fall-out of the USSR support

Renewable energy

• The rising cost of energy is forcing the region to look more to renewable sources– Wind, hydro, ethanol in Jamaica

• Clean Development Mechanism for Wigton Wind Farm

– Hydro in Guyana and Suriname– Wind in St. Kitts– Possibilities for geo-thermal in St.Lucia– Research on ocean thermal

• Even with these, efficient use of hydrocarbon energy will continue to be a high priority

Tourism

• Green Globe – now EarthCheck• Largest Anglo Caribbean owned hotel chain,

Sandals, has achieved certification for several of its hotels, and is pursuing several projects for increased efficiency of energy consumption– Changing out incandescent light bulbs– Solar hearing of water in the laundry– Efficient use of water

• Driven by market demand for environmentally friendly facilities

Agriculture and Foresty

• CDM for Guyana and Belize – selling forest services as carbon sinks

• Organic agriculture – Cuba, Jamaica• Windward Islands – Dominica, St.Lucia,

Grenada, St. Vincent Martinique - fair trade bananas

• Local communities co manage forests with the State, for sustainable livelihoods

Natural Resources

• Caribbean has traditionally been based on natural resource intensive economies – export agriculture, mineral export, tourism– By extension agriculture and tourism are huge

consumers of water• Challenge is to increase the efficiency of use

for sustainability

Private business

• Initiatives in:– tourism across the region– Organic and fair-trade bananas– Construction in Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago

and Jamaica– Recent announcement by Richard Branson for

climate finance for the region

Equity

• Caribbean countries insist that the green economy has equity and the fight against poverty as centrepieces of the strategies

• Poverty rates are high in the region, especially since the global crisis of 2008 – upwards of 20% for many countries

• Governments are most keen on employment and equity, as urgent short-run issues

• Logistics hub in Jamaica – threat to Ramsar site Portland Bight

Regional Strategy

• CARICOM’s Regional Framework for achieving development resilient to climate change, 2009-2015– Implemented by the 5Cs – Caribbean Community Climate Change

Centre• UNEP’s green economy programme for the Caribbean

– Centre of excellence for GEI– Assessing potential for green economy– Establishing a regional multi-stakeholder knowledge sharing platform

• Caribbean Regional renewable energy programme– Established in 1998 to reduce emissions and build renewable energy

industry; coordinate national renewable energy plans

Challenges

• Some governments have expressed fears that green growth criteria might bring non-tariff barriers against Caribbean trade with the advanced countries

• Very high debt burdens limit public sector investment in greening, especially where countries are preoccupied with short run adjustments associated with IMF agreements

Challenges

• Caribbean SIDS are vulnerable to natural hazards and shocks from global markets– Some island states face the challenge of existence

in the face of sea level rise• Hence building resilience to these shocks has

become a priority– Disaster Risk Reduction – Diversification of international relations

Green economy

• Developing renewable energy• Building resilience to economic and climate

shocks• Adapting to climate change• Promoting economic growth for employment

and equity– Sustainable tourism

CANARI

• CANARI has been leading the way in articulating what a green economy in the Caribbean is– 2010-2012: CANARI facilitated a Caribbean regional

dialogue process under the auspices of the Green Economy Coalition

– Established a Green Economy Action Learning Group• Currently, executing a Caribbead Development

Bank project on transitioning to a green economy in the Caribbean

GE ALG Steering

Committee

GE ALG members

Networks of GE ALG members

Current Research

• Green economy development is a nuanced difference from OECD’s focus on green growth– Using OECD’s framework for assessing green

growth as a starting point for an analagous framework for assessing the impact of the greening of the economy

• Scoping studies are being supported by UNEP with EU funding