Belize & Guyana Initiate NAP Process

October 26, 2018

Stakeholders participating during the NAP Workshop in Belize

Stakeholders, government representatives and development partners recently gathered to take Belize and Guyana one step closer to the finalization of their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs).

These are the first NAP-related workshops in a series to be hosted by the UN Development Programme’s Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (UNDP J-CCCP) and respective Governments. NAPs outline how countries can achieve medium to long-term adaptation to climate change and are designed to balance priorities across sectors at local, sub-national and national levels. Guyana’s NAP will be overarching, reforming a variety of sectors while Belize’s NAP will focus on the agriculture and water sectors.

During each workshop more than thirty participants from various ministries, academia and civil society organisations (CSOs) reviewed the NAP process, provided insight into existing climate change initiatives and challenges and worked toward prioritization of adaptation actions. It is expected that these actions will build on national strategies to ensure alignment with the existing United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) endorsed framework for NAPs.

The NAP process was created by the United Nations as an opportunity for countries to plan for sustainable development in the face of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement calls on all countries to engage in NAP processes and Mikiko Tanaka, UNDP’s Resident Representative for Guyana, expressed her delight at UNDP being able to support the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana in this process. She stated, “recognizing that National Adaptation Plans hold great value as countries are better positioned to adapt to climate change and attract investors and donors, UNDP is pleased to facilitate the development of Guyana’s NAP.”

Likewise, UNDP’s Resident Representative for Belize Christian Salazar, was delighted to support the Government of Belize in this way. He said, “at this juncture, adaptation is crucial for Belize not only in addressing the physical impacts of climate change but also in positioning the country to secure donor and investment funding. UNDP is pleased to support this process toward the achievement of SDG 13, which speaks to climate action.”

J-CCCP is a regional initiative working in eight Caribbean countries to reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports, setting the region on a low-emission development path as well as to improve the region’s ability to respond to climate risks and opportunities in the long-run, through resilient development approaches that go beyond disaster response to extreme events.