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Greenhouse
Gas Inventory
G. H. G Mitigation
& Abatement
Public Awareness
Vulnerability & Adaptation
National Action Plan
National Communication
Greenhouse
Gas Inventory
The United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change is a global initiative to address anthropogenic contribution
to climate change.
The Convention sets the ultimate objective of stabilizing
“greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere at a level
that would prevent dangerous human-induced interference with the
climate system.”
It also directs that "such a level be achieved within
a time frame sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt to climate
change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to
enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.”
As
a party to the convention St. Lucia is obligated to prepare its
first National Communication to the Conference of Parties. One component
of the National Communication is the preparation of a national inventory
of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by sources and removal
by sinks. St. Lucia
began the preparing its National Greenhouse Gas Inventory with a
training workshop from the 11th – 14th
January 2000 at the Cable and Wireless College. The workshop was
facilitated by
two Canadian consultants.
The gases included in the inventory so far are carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and halocarbons which are
all generated from activities taking place in St. Lucia.
St. Lucia has opted to use 1994 as its base year and so far
80% of the inventory has been completed utilizing the best data
available to ensure a high degree of accuracy. The methods
employed have also been in keeping with the IPCC guidelines for
preparing greenhouse gas.
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The
picture above shows the Gros-Islet Fisheries Complex in Saint Lucia.
This complex provides the fishermen from the town of Gros-Islet
with the infrastructure to conduct their day to day activities.
It also represents a vulnerable coastal feature which can be seriously
impacted by climate change. With expected sea level rise coastal
infrastructure like the one in the picture will be put in danger.
G.
H. G Mitigation & Abatement
Greenhouse
Gas (GHG) mitigation will involve the analysis of potential measures
to abate greenhouse gas emissions and enhance removal by sinks. It will lead to the development of methodologies
for assessing mitigation measures and policy frameworks for implementing
these adaptation /mitigation measures and response strategies specific
to St. Lucia.
It
must be noted that much of St. Lucia’s greenhouse gas emissions
comes from the energy sector and therefore an analysis of Greenhouse
Gas mitigation will have to involve examining the use of existing
technologies that have not been exploited and implementing policy
measures that accelerate the development or transfer of environmental
friendly technologies .
The
mitigation component is critical as it will feed directly into policy
formulation. Analyzing
adaptation options for St. Lucia must be detailed and all considerations
taken into account when making policy recommendations.
The development
of St. Lucia’s key sectors, such as Agriculture, Tourism, Fisheries
and Energy as well its most vulnerable ecological and socio-economic
systems will rely on the measures adopted to mitigate climate change
impacts.
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Vulnerability
and Adaptation
Both the magnitude
and the rate of Climate Change are likely to affect the capacity
and the scope for development at all levels of society. Some of
the more significant effects of climate change include sea level
rise, the disruption of ecological systems and an increase in the
number of extreme weather events. These are likely to be felt most
in tropical regions such as the Caribbean and to have a number of
impacts including:
-
Increased
drought conditions
-
Increased
damage from hurricane and other extreme weather conditions
-
Changes
in cropping patterns
-
Inundation
of low-lying coastal areas
Vulnerability
to climate change will eventually depend on the resource base, economic
circumstances and infrastructure capacity of nations. Climate change
will induce effects additional to the stresses already exerted on
the ecological and socio-ecological systems by pollution, natural
resource scarcity and increasing human population.
The more technologically
and environmentally prepared a country, the better it will be able
to respond to the effects of climate change. Climate change should
therefore be a fundamental consideration in the sustainable development
planning of nations, and small island states in particular.
The main aim
of the Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment under the National
Communication Enabling project is to determine, using appropriate
climate change scenarios the extent to which St. Lucia is likely
to be affected by climate change and to identify means to address
these effects.
Out of this
assessment should come adaptation measures and response strategies
for climate change taking into consideration its effects on disaster
preparedness, coastal zone management, agriculture, fisheries, forestry
human health, water resources, energy and biodiversity. It is expected
that these climate change concerns will be integrated in the planning
process and therefore future development will be considerate of
such concerns. This component of the project will develop technical
expertise and institutional capacity so that further research can
be undertaken.
Under this component
two major workshops must be conducted. A regional
workshop which was held from the 13th to 24th March 2000 in
Trinidad and a local Vulnerability and Adaptation Workshop which
will soon commence.
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Gros-Islet
fishermen heading out to sea for a days work. Besides the fish,
their biggest resource is their boat, a small canoe which can easily
be damaged by rough seas or too much rain putting the lives of these
two fishermen in danger. With climate change and global warming
the chances of this happening is greatly increased and the livelihood
of the Gros-Islet fishermen put in serious jeopardy.
National
Action Plan
The National
Action Plan will be a national strategy prepared for effective
response measures for climate change impacts on ecological, economic
and social systems. It will include policy options for adequate
monitoring systems and programs related to sustainable development,
research and systematic observation, education and public awareness,
capacity building and institutional strengthening.
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Public
Awareness
Much of the
world's population, not excluding policy and decision makers have
little or no knowledge of climate change and the impacts it will
eventually play in the development process. This is especially
critical to developing countries such as St. Lucia, where climate
change impacts are predicted to be most severe.
Education, training
and sensitization are therefore of great importance in fostering
environmental consciousness. Climate change adaptation can
either be a well thought out process or it can be spontaneous.
Public education
on climate change issues is about changing the behavior and attitudes
of persons by equipping them with the knowledge and the ability
to adapt to climate change.
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 The
picture above shows a privately owned restaurant looked at Rodney
Bay, St. Lucia's prime tourist hang out. In the distance is
the Rodney Bay Marina, a docking point for more than half of the
vessels that come to the island including yachts and sail boats.
Climate Change possessed an added risk to these resources located
near the coastal areas.
National
Communication
The is the
immediate objective of the Project. It will assemble all the outcomes
of the various Project components into a comprehensive document.
This document will serve as the First National Communication of
St. Lucia to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It will also serve
as a basis for action on greenhouse gas and climate change related
issues. Lastly it will be used as the foundation for future
National Communications.
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