Integrating climate resilience in the water sector in the Caribbean: Moving from regional to national action

Climate-sensitive sectors such as water are central to sustainable development in the Caribbean. Strengthening regional and national capacity to respond to climate change, to mainstream climate resilience, and to design transformative sector- wide interventions is therefore a key priority under the ACP-EU-CDB National Disaster Risk Management (NDRM) programme. As part of this initiative, Phase I of the “Planning for the Integration of Climate Resilience in the Water Sector in the Caribbean project” (The Project) produced a package of training materials, tools, guidelines and technical notes to help water professionals and other practitioners mainstream climate resilience in the water sector. The training materials provide a framework to strengthen water sector resilience across multiple facets including assets and infrastructure, policies, plans, strategies and institutions. The training materials were developed and refined through country case study applications in Grenada and St. Kitts & Nevis. A regional Training of Trainers event bringing together representatives from the borrowing member countries (BMCs) of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) was subsequently held to improve the capacity of national professionals and practitioners to identify, plan and implement climate resilient development pathways in the water sector. Phase II of The Project subsequently applied the training materials, tools, guidelines and technical notes to two new case study countries, Dominica and Antigua & Barbuda. These additional pilot applications further demonstrated the applicability of the approaches in countries where the water supply and services were severely affected by Hurricanes Maria (Dominica) and Irma (Antigua & Barbuda) in September 2017. This paper showcases the outcomes and deliverables of The Project, highlights lessons learned during applications in the case study countries and takes a critical look at actions required to support the shift from regional to national actions to accelerate the integration of climate resilience across CDB’s BMCs