Project Title:
Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the Caribbean Tourism Sector.
Project Goal:
Reduction in vulnerability of the Caribbean tourism sector to natural hazards and disasters, including associated adaptive capacity for climate variability and climate change.
Project Purpose:
Regional monitoring, evaluating and reporting information system for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in the tourism sector, as a Regional Public Good, developed.
Project Impact:
Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) mainstreamed into the tourism sector (regional and national)
Project Objectives:
The project objectives are:
• To incorporate Climate Change Adaptation in the DRM Strategy and Action Plan
• To develop tools and establish protocols and mechanisms for updating and reporting on the regional and national M&E databases.
• To develop the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and System for monitoring, evaluating and reporting DRM and CCA in the tourism sector.
• To develop a Regional M&E database
• To mainstream DRM and CCA into the CTO Management Information System for Tourism (MIST) database and the national database systems.
Project Overview:
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), in April 2010, formalized the terms of a US 750,000 grant that supports the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean Tourism Sector Project. Following on the completion of the IDB financed Regional DRM Strategy and Action Plan, national governments of participating countries, through their respective tourism organisations and national disaster management agencies identified the need for a regional mechanism for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the results of the implementation of the Regional DRM Strategy and Action Plan. The need was also expressed for Climate Change Adaptation to be explicitly addressed as part of the process.
Enhanced CDM Strategy alignment
The development of a regional mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of DRM and CCA in the tourism sector will also support Outcome 3 and Output 1.6 of the Enhance CDM Strategy. These are as follows, Outcome 3 - Disaster Risk Management has been mainstreamed at the national levels and incorporated into key sectors of national economies including tourism, health, agriculture and nutrition and Output 1.6 - Capacity building for monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
Sponsor:
Inter American Development Bank
Participating States:
The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Anguilla, The Virgin Islands, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Executing Agency:
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
Execution period:
The project is expected to run for a period of 36 months from April 2010 to April 2013.
Project partners
The Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO)
The University of the West Indies (UWI)
The University of Guyana (UG)
Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC)
Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
Participating Countries
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August 2012
The First Regional Meeting
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored project “Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean Tourism Sector” reached a milestone on August 8-9, 2012 when the Executing Agency, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) convened the First Regional Meeting at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston Jamaica.
The objectives of the meeting were to discuss and recommend for endorsement the outputs of Component 1 of the project, “Development of the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework”. Specifically, two main sub components were reviewed and discussed they were the Revised Regional DRM Strategy and Action Plan which incorporates CCA and the outputs from the national stakeholder meetings.
The regional meeting also facilitated the face to face meetings of the arms of the project’s governance structure, these are the National Focal Points (NFP), the Board of Management (BM) and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
The success of the meeting was demonstrated by the general support for the Draft Revised Regional Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action for the Tourism Sector in the Caribbean and the enthusiasm with which information, comments and suggestions were exchanged. Representatives from the participating states, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), the Inter American Development Bank and the CDEMA CU agreed in principle with the revised draft (SAP).
The next steps include the finalisation of the SAP and the movement towards national level adaptation.
July 2012: The SAP
The “Regional Disaster Risk Management Strategy and Plan of Action for the Tourism Sector in the Caribbean” (SAP) developed under the IDB sponsored “Regional Disaster Risk Management for Sustainable Tourism in the Caribbean” project is currently being reviewed specifically to incorporate climate change adaptation. This is part on the ongoing IDB sponsored project “Regional Monitoring and Evaluation System for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation in the Caribbean Tourism Sector”.
The main idea of the SAP is to create a strategic framework by which the countries of the region can support tourism amidst natural hazards and climate change. If well adapted into the national development programme, the SAP creates the foundation on which the monitoring and evaluation system can be built.
“The purpose of the Regional DRM and CCA Strategy for the Tourism Sector (SAP) is to reduce the vulnerability of the Tourism sector to natural hazards and climate change through integrating/ mainstreaming comprehensive disaster management and climate change adaptation. The Strategy identifies Regional Strategic Objectives (RSOs) and key activities for the Caribbean Tourism sector.
The Plan of Action details those measures that can be undertaken by Tourism stakeholders at the regional and national levels to meet the RSOs. To fully attain the RSOs, measures are required to be undertaken by stakeholders who are bound by national parameters. Therefore, to be a fully effective instrument, the Regional Strategy and Plan of Action are dependent on National Strategies and Plans of Action for the Tourism sector,” the Draft Revised Regional Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action” pg 12, 2012.
Therefore, the adaptation of the SAP at the national level as a policy approach to DRM and CCA in the tourism sector is fundamental for progress and sustainability.
In a review of the SAP critical climate change issues such as, rising sea levels (0.36 to 2.5 ft), altered patterns of agriculture, increased extreme weather events, the expansion of the range of tropical diseases among others were the topics for discussion. Specific measures to either adapt or mitigate were also considered in order to ensure that the SAP provides the required framework for improvement. Current initiatives undertaken by Caribbean countries were captured in order to gauge the challenges, successes, risks and implications. In this way the SAP becomes a tool that encapsulates the reality of adaptation to climate change and managing natural hazards in the Caribbean.
Further information on the Draft Revised Regional Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and Plan of Action can be obtained from the CDEMA CU: cdema@cdema.org Details on the process of review will be provided in subsequent articles