CPACC: Report 2

Report of the First Meeting of the Project Advisory Commitee
The PomMarine Hotel, Barbados, 18-19 June 1997

The Chairman, Mr. Herman Rohlehr of the CARICOM Secretariat, welcomed all members of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) to the first meeting of the body and conveyed the regards of the CARICOM Secretary General. During the opening remarks, it was noted that the impetus for the project came from the United Nations Conference for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), convened in Barbados in May 1994. The Project's background and context were presented by Mr. Jan Vermeiren and Claudio Volonte. A discussion followed afterwards during which several issues were raised, including the mechanisms for involvement of different entities in the Project. It was agreed that it was important for these entities to be involved without enlarging the PAC beyond a reasonable size. Involving the private sector in the project was seen as a national level activity to be coordinated by the National Implementation Coordinating Units (NICUs).

The staffing of the RPIU was described by Mr. Vermeiren . All positions were advertised in August 1996 by UWICED in several regional and one international newspaper. It was noted that the RPIU would report on project activities to the OAS through UWICED, as specified in the agreement between UWICED and the OAS. On the subject of the RPIU facilities, Mr. Vermeiren explained that whereas the Government of Barbados originally offered to host the RPIU, the UWI Cave Hill also made this offer. The latter was accepted given the desire to associate the project with a regional institution.

Mr. Volonte provided an overview on first year programming and first year quarterly work plan referring to the documentation provided for the meeting and the CPACC project document (January 1997). He noted that the first project activity to be started was component #1: Design and Establishment of Sea Level/Climate Monitoring Network. Activities were also initiated under component #2: Establishment of Data Bases and Information Systems.

Component 1 B Sea Level/Climate Monitoring Network
Mr. Chapin, with the assistance of Mr. Doug Martin of the U.S. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), gave an overview of the progress to date. The basic environmental parameters being measured were outlined and the process by which these are relayed to the RNCag for QC/QA (quality control/quality assurance) prior to being made available through the CPACC information network. The distribution of the eighteen monitoring stations among the eleven countries was determined by the most advantageous locations to obtain data to satisfy the requirements of the project. The sustainability of this component would be based on the availability and use of the information generated and indeed the dependency on that information for both public and private sector agencies. This component, while not providing universal coverage for the Caribbean region, is part of the GLOSS (Global Sealevel Observing System), and indeed provides state-of-the-art monitoring capability. Also under this component, two countries will receive global positioning system (GPS) base stations, (pending confirmation of acceptance: Jamaica, Barbados) to allow more accurate GPS benchmarking to be produced for the countries involved in the project.

Component 2 B Databases and Information Network
The information to be made available on the Internet would be that generated by the Project and by the countries. It was expected that the Information System Coordintor would be involved in the design of the system, procurement of hardware and supporting capability.

Component 3 B Inventory of Coastal Resources
It was stressed that it was not the intent, nor was it possible within the resources of the project, to develop GIS capability in countries where no capability exists. Rather, the GIS component is expected to facilitate already ongoing applications in the countries, and the integration of project information into the existing GIS framework. There are several initiatives and some technical expertise existing in the region, which should be utilized under this component, including: capability at the IMA and UWI St. Augustine in Trinidad, and the NRCA in Jamaica. Also, the British Development Division based in Barbados had done considerable work in creating coastal inventories in their territories, and the UNHCS has invested considerably in assisting with the development of GIS capability in the region.

Mr. Vermeiren indicated that inter-agency collaboration and coordination was an integral part of the project's design phase, and that it is the desire of the participating countries and of the implementing and executing agencies that this continue during project implementation. The following agencies, represented in the PAC, gave a basic overview of their activities and programs that were of relevance to CPACC:

UWICED
CERMES/UWI
UNDP
UNEP

At the close of the meeting it was agreed that there should be a press communiqué on the PAC and NICU meetings. The OAS offered to prepare a press release to be submitted to Regional Caribbean papers.

The Chairman thanked participants and noted that the report of the meeting will be prepared by the Secretariat and himself and the circulated to members. He also noted that the two NICU representatives on the PAC would present an overview of the PAC meeting to the meeting of NFPs.
The meeting was closed.

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