European Union allocating funds for OECS environment projects

The European Union is providing EC$39 million (One EC dollar = US$0.37 cents) for environment projects in the sub regional Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).  Head of the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States, Mikael Barfod, said the project is part of the EU’s Climate Change Alliance and would help small islands like Barbuda to mitigate against climate change.

At the signing ceremony on Wednesday night, he advised, “On your doorsteps scientists are warning that your 62 square mile sister isle of Barbuda is becoming one of the vulnerable spots on earth due to the consequences of climate change.”  Barfod said already there is accelerated erosion taking place because of the rise in sea levels  “and it is estimated that if this erosion continues a third of the island could be lost.”

Chief Environment Officer, Dianne Black-Layne said Antigua and Barbuda would need a significant injection of funds to deal with the effects of climate change.  She said the island has undertaken many initiatives to deal with climate change.  She said by 2016 “just to get prepared to adapt to climate change we would need to spend 40 to 50 million EC dollars a year.  That’s about 20 million US dollars that is additional money we would need to run the country to prepare for climate change,” she said.

The OECS groups the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominic, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.

Source: Caribbean360