Grenada leading the way for Adaptation

Grenada is the first Caribbean Community country to complete its National Adaptation Plan.

Grenada is the first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to complete its cabinet-approved National Adaptation Plan. The document was accepted prior to the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), after in-depth work led by the environment division at the Grenadian Ministry of Agriculture and Lands in collaboration with the Grenadian-German Integrated Climate Change Adaptation Strategies (ICCAS) programme.

The UNFCCC introduced the National Adaptation Plan process, often referred to as ‘NAP’, as a tool for countries to reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change by building adaptive capacity and resilience. Instead of an end in itself, the NAP is a continuous, progressive and iterative process, which follows a country-driven, gender-sensitive, participatory and fully transparent approach to climate resilience. The Grenada NAP draws on and integrates key aspects of Grenada’s national development targets, Grenada’s draft National Sustainable Development Plan 2030, sectoral plans, and the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP). It is a robust document, which supports CARICOM’s climate change implementation plan (2011-2021) and is in line with Grenada’s Revised National Climate Change Policy and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Merina Jessamy, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, stated: ‘In developing the NAP, consultations were held with over 160 representatives from government (approx. 11 ministries) and private actors across numerous sectors including water, food security, coastal zone management, resilient infrastructure, disaster risk reduction and disease prevention. The development process of the NAP spanned over two years so this was truly a participatory and inclusive process.’

The Grenada NAP includes a number of actions and projects aimed at reducing Grenada’s vulnerability to climate change. It offers potential donors and funding agencies concrete ideas for financing opportunities for climate-resilient action. The various programmes of action are estimated to cost around USD 260 million. Pioneering its NAP in the Caribbean region gives Grenada a leading edge in accessing funding for implementing the various projects. Based on the NAP’s identified priorities, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, the National Water Authority and the Ministry of Finance jointly developed a comprehensive water sector resilience project that was <link en news article world_water_day_2018_>approved by the Green Climate Fund in February 2018. In addition, Dieter Rothenberger, Head of ICCAS at GIZ, said: ‘Under the ICCAS project, Grenada has also successfully secured funding for a Climate Finance Readiness programme under the Green Climate Fund, which is the first step in accessing climate finance. Publishing the NAP represents another step forward, which will allow other Caribbean islands to learn from Grenada’s approach.’

The ICCAS project is funded under the German Environment Ministry’s (BMU) International Climate Initiative (IKI) and is jointly implemented by GIZ, Grenada’s environment division, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).