OECS presents first completed works in Climate Change Intervention

(OECS Secretariat, Castries Saint Lucia)– The Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will present its first completed works in climate change intervention during a brief ceremony next week on the island of Petite Martinique, Grenada.

The ceremony to mark the just concluded works will be held next Thursday January 23rd, at 10:00 a.m. in Sanchez, an area which has suffered tremendous damage to its road and loss of its beach as a result of strong wave action, which has been partly blamed on climate change.

The works undertaken by the USAID funded climate change project (known as the RRACC Project) being implemented by the OECS Secretariat; focused on land reclamation and placement of a revetment – these are expected to reduce the area’s vulnerabilities and protect it from continued erosion.

The ceremony is expected to attract over 150 residents of the small island, together with several local and regional government officials; representatives from the OECS Secretariat; and donor partners, USAID.

Among dignitaries to address the event are Acting Mission Director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Mr Lawrence Sacks; US Charge d’ Affaires Mr Louis Crishock; Officer in Charge of the OECS Secretariat Mr Bentley Browne; and Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs Hon. Elvin Nimrod.

The coastal restoration works in Sanchez, Petite Martinique is the first of 11 examples of climate change adaptation interventions to be undertaken under the RRACC Project that will help OECS states build resilience to climate change and reduce vulnerabilities to its impacts.

Other such demonstration projects are to be undertaken in Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts, Nevis, Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.