Strengthening Climate Resilience: The Case of Grenada
Grenada is an island nation with a land area of approximately 350 km2 and a population of approximately 100,000 people. Grenada is highly vulnerable to climate change and has relatively low financial or technical capacity to prevent it. It is estimated that by 2050 climate change could cost the country $800 million which would be devastating to its economy and quality of life. Therefore, the government has led several programs to promote climate resilience. In 2011, it brought many of its government agencies to create a Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR). This program was one of the first to seek financing from international donors from the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), a donor funded financing institution for the Caribbean nations.
SPCR is an institutional framework that helps coordinate and communicate information and efforts in several focus areas: disaster vulnerability and climate risk reduction, water resource assessment and management, coastal management, forest rehabilitation, and improving data usage. When SPCR was being discussed the government of Grenada experienced pushback from both within the government from competing agencies, and from the public who felt the SPCR was mostly a rebranding and regrouping of previously failed projects. Grenada agencies released a report how these and other challenges were overcome that could be useful to other resource constrained countries seeking to replicate programs similar to the SPCR. Lessons learned include:
- Communicating efficiently between different parties with overlapping roles to reduce repeat tasks and efforts.
- Communicating outcomes with the public in specific terms. One portion of the SPCR necessitated relocating a village. The villagers and public first resisted until the resources that would be available to ensure the villagers were no worse off were made known.
- Tailoring the projects to specific needs outlined in the SPCR. In particular projects were selected and sized based on high vulnerabilities to sea rise as specified in the SPCR. One example was in coastal management, building a roadmap to zones with different threat and infrastructure upgrades and then implementing the roadmap.
- Inviting and facilitating communication across sectors. One initial criticism of the SPCR was its top-heavy nature. The public felt that the SCPR did not adequately connect regulations and government programs to local stakeholders and communities. By inviting cross-sectoral collaboration this concern was addressed.
Grenada ni kisiwa cha nchi na eneo la ardhi ya karibu kilomita 350 na idadi ya watu wa karibu 100,000. Grenada ni hatari sana kwa mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na ina uwezo mdogo wa kifedha au kiufundi wa kuzuia. Inakadiriwa kuwa kufikia mwaka 2050 mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa yanaweza kuharibu nchi hiyo dola milioni 800, na kuharibu uchumi na ubora wa maisha. Kwa hiyo, serikali imesababisha programu kadhaa kukuza uimara wa hali ya hewa. Mwaka 2011, serikali ya Marekani ilianzisha mpango wa Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR). Programu hii ilikuwa moja ya kwanza kutafuta fedha kutoka kwa wafadhili wa kimataifa kutoka kwa Programu ya Majaribio ya Uvumilivu wa Hali ya Hewa (PPCR), taasisi ya fedha inayofadhiliwa na wafadhili kwa mataifa ya Karibea. SPCR ni mfumo wa taasisi ambayo husaidia kuratibu na kuwasiliana habari na juhudi katika maeneo kadhaa ya kuzingatia: hatari ya misiba na kupunguza hatari ya hali ya hewa, tathmini ya rasilimali za maji na usimamizi, usimamizi wa pwani, ukarabati wa misitu, na kuboresha matumizi ya data. Wakati SPCR ilizungumziwa, serikali ya Grenada ilipata upinzani kutoka kwa serikali ya ndani kutoka kwa mashirika yanayoshindana, na kutoka kwa umma ambao walihisi SPCR ilikuwa zaidi ya kubadilisha chapa na kuunganisha tena miradi iliyoshindwa hapo awali. "Makampuni ya Grenada yametoa ripoti ya jinsi changamoto hizi na nyingine zilivyoponywa ambayo inaweza kuwa na manufaa kwa nchi nyingine zenye rasilimali ndogo zinazotafuta kuiga programu kama hizo za SPCR. """ Mafunzo yaliyopatikana ni pamoja na: - Mawasiliano ya ufanisi kati ya vyama tofauti na majukumu ya kuingiliana ili kupunguza kazi za kurudia na juhudi. - Kuwasiliana matokeo na umma katika maneno maalum. Sehemu moja ya SPCR ilihitaji kuhamishwa kwa kijiji. Wakazi wa kijiji hicho na umma walipinga kwanza hadi rasilimali ambazo zingekuwa zinapatikana kuhakikisha wakazi wa kijiji hicho hawakuwa na hali mbaya zaidi zilipojulikana. - Kuandaa miradi kwa mahitaji maalum yaliyoelezwa katika SPCR. Mipango ya ujenzi na ujenzi wa majengo hayo ni ya msingi na ya kipekee kwa sababu ya hatari kubwa ya kuongezeka kwa bahari, kama ilivyoelezwa katika SPCR. Mfano mmoja ulikuwa katika usimamizi wa pwani, kujenga ramani ya barabara kwa maeneo na tishio tofauti na kuboresha miundombinu na kisha kutekeleza ramani ya barabara. - Kualika na kuwezesha mawasiliano kati ya sekta. Miongoni mwa mambo ya kwanza ambayo SPCR ilikosoa ni kuwa na viwango vya juu vya usimamizi. "Watu wengi wanaamini kwamba SCPR haikuunganisha vizuri kanuni na programu za serikali kwa wadau wa ndani na jamii.""" Kwa kualika ushirikiano wa sekta mbalimbali wasiwasi huu ulishughulikiwa.