St. Kitts and Nevis move to develop national climate change adaptation strategy

Basseterre, St. Kitts – As climate change becomes more prevalent worldwide, as well as in the federation, St. Kitts and Nevis is undertaking initiatives to ensure that the necessary measures are put in place to protect lives and livelihoods.

The most recent of such initiative was a stakeholder consultation workshop Oct. 3 geared toward enabling stakeholder input into the development of a National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) to address the impacts of climate change and build resilience.

The minister of environment, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton, noted that the consultation is quite timely and extremely important as there is a dire need to develop a comprehensive strategy in addressing the federation’s adaptation efforts.

“This consultation is critically important as you identify key priorities and needs of your various sectors that will feed into the strategy,” said Hamilton. “The views and inputs on the impacts, vulnerabilities and potential adaptation strategies related to climate change are required so that we can craft a strategy that addresses all levels and all sectors. The government’s approach to climate change has been relatively small, but I consider it to be significant increments. A draft of a national climate change policy is currently at cabinet for endorsement. The policy will guide the country’s pathway as it relates to addressing climate change.”

He noted that the development of a NCCAS is important because “although our contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions are small, the impacts of climate change on our nation and our region will be immense.”

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