St. Kitts and Nevis Ministers with responsibility for water among Nine Caribbean Ministers Sign Declaration for Addressing Regional Water Security

October 10th, 2012 — Nine (9) Caribbean Ministers with responsibility for water resources management have committed themselves to making all essential efforts in addressing water security and climate change in the region. This assurance came out of the 8th Annual High Level Session (HLS) Ministerial Forum in The Bahamas, held on October 4th and 5th, 2012. The Ministerial Forum is a joint initiative of the Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) and its partner, the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA); and is an unmatched regional event, being the only meeting of Water Ministers in the Caribbean to date.

Critical to the declaration signed by the Ministers at the Forum was their recognition that high level political leadership is key for meeting water security and climate change challenges faced by Caribbean countries. This along with other recommendations recognising the importance of building a water secure Caribbean, were sanctioned by the Ministers from The Bahamas, Anguilla, Barbados, Belize, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Kitts, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Also deemed imperative by the Ministers was that Caribbean governments in collaboration with regional partners should conduct national assessments on the status of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) implementation in the Caribbean and keep the implementation of IWRM under continuous review.

During the 8th HLS, Ministers and senior government officials were able to give their perspectives on national and regional priorities for water security in the Caribbean; as well as discuss regional water resource coordination at the Ministerial level.

Global Water Partnership-Caribbean (GWP-C) and its partner the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) are committed to supporting the realisation of the recommendations coming out of the 8th High Level Session (HLS) Ministerial Forum, in cooperation with regional governments and other partners.