Capacity Development for improved management of Multilateral Environmental Agreements for global environmental benefits Project

The Trinidad and Tobago Government through the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) has initiated the preparation of a Global Environmental Facility (GEF) medium sized project entitled "Capacity Development for improved management of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) for global environmental benefits" in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

It's objective is to strengthen national capacities for implementation of the Rio Conventions (i.e. the Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and other MEAs in Trinidad and Tobago.

To achieve this, the project's strategy incorporates:

• training for civil society and key members of national institutions and coordinating bodies with responsibility for environmental matters on environmental obligations, rules and regulations, monitoring and evaluation, and national reporting guidelines and requirements under the Conventions
• creating cross institutional alliances, strengthening management capacities for implementing Convention requirements and developing coordination mechanisms to disseminate information and replicate approaches 
• developing a communication strategy to raise awareness of MEA obligations and requirements and disseminate project results 

Stakeholder consultations were convened with a wide range of stakeholders including community groups, civil society, the private sector, academic and research institutions, NGOs, governmental agencies and local authorities to solicit input in the project design and validation of the final project document. 

Validation workshops were held in Scarborough Tobago on May 27, 2015 and in Port-of-Spain on May 28, 2015. The feedback from these sessions were very informative and contributed to a successful endorsement of the draft project document leading to the eventual approval by GEF for funding to implement the Project  in July, 2015.

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE VALIDATION WORKSHOPS

Tobago (May 27, 2015)

Trinidad (May 28th, 2015