Implementation of Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments to Help St. Kitts-Nevis Strengthen Response to Effects of Climate Change

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, November 18, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Representatives from the Caribbean National Resources Institute (CANARI) are currently in St. Kitts and Nevis undertaking a training workshop with a local field team to assist with the implementation of Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCA) in coastal and fishing communities.

According to CANARI, Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments are important means to establish who and what are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and identify potential adaptation measures at the community levels.

The training with the field team in St. Kitts and Nevis is focused on designing and implementing local level VCAs using the VCA toolkit developed by CANARI. This will support fieldwork to conduct VCAs in three targeted coastal and fishing communities, namely: Basseterre and Old Road in St. Kitts, and Newcastle in Nevis.

Director of the Department of Marine Resources, Mr. Marc Williams commented on the significance of this training to St. Kitts and Nevis, noting that, “The more experts that we have in terms of assessing our climatic conditions as it relates to marine resources, the better it is for us in terms of the management of our fish stocks.”

Through the training workshop, CANARI aims to improve stakeholders’ understanding of climate change impacts and vulnerabilities for effective adaptation in the Eastern Caribbean fisheries sector.

The two-day training workshop, which is taking place at the NEMA Headquarters, is being held under the Climate Change Adaptation in the Fisheries Sector of the Eastern Caribbean Project (CC4FISH).

Initiated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the CC4FISH objective seeks to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts in the Eastern Caribbean fisheries sector, through the introduction of adaptation measures in fisheries management and capacity building of fisher folk and aquaculturists.

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