Regional Meeting Series for the Project “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for POPs in the Caribbean”

As part of project execution for the regional Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project, ‘Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean’ (GEF #5558), the Basel Convention Regional Centre for Training and Technology Transfer for the Caribbean Region (BCRC-Caribbean) hosted a Regional Meeting Series for the project at the Department of Environment’s Conference Room, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda. The Regional Meeting Series comprised the following meetings:

· Train-the-Trainer Workshop - Inventory and Disposal - May 28, 2018;

· Third Annual Project Steering Committee Meeting - May 29, 2018;

· National Implementation Plan (NIP) Validation Workshop -May 30,2018; and

· Regional Legal Stakeholders Workshop: Towards a Model Legal Framework for Chemicals Management - May 31, 2018

In attendance (physically or virtually) at the Meetings were the Chairpersons of the Project Working Committees (PWCs), National Project Coordinators (NPCs), or a designated country representative, as well as legal officers, solid waste management technicians, and representatives of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the BCRC-Caribbean.

The Train-the-Trainer Workshop was geared towards waste management technicians around the region, and there was national representation from the Trinidad and Tobago Solid Waste Management Authority (SWMCOL) and the Environmental Management Authority (EMA). The three (3) other meetings were attended by the EMA and the Ministry of Planning and Development’s Waste Management Specialist, Ms. Keima Gardiner, who also serves as the Chair of the PWC for Trinidad and Tobago.

The Third Annual Project Steering Committee Meeting had as an objective, the review of the project status for Years 1 and 2, as well as the upcoming work programmes for Year 3. The NIP Validation Workshop was designed to validate and endorse the draft final NIPs, as well as to outline the strategies for the endorsement of the NIPs at the national levels. The First Regional Legal Stakeholders Workshop aimed to present the overall findings and recommendations for a Draft Regional Chemicals Regulatory Framework for the participating countries. Collectively, these meetings sought to help fulfill the objectives of the project which is to reduce and/or eliminate the threat of POPs within the context and realities of the eight (8) Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Tobago.

Project Entitled – “Capacity Development for improved management of Multilateral Environmental Agreements for Global Environmental Benefits.”

Project Overview:

This project is being funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), coordinated by the United Nations Development Programme office of Trinidad and Tobago (UNDP) with the Ministry of Planning and Development as the executing agency.

The goal of this project is to strengthen the ability of the Government of the Republic Trinidad and Tobago (GoRTT) to create, leverage and maintain synergies for the national implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and strengthen integrated approaches to environmental management, including meeting MEAs guidance and national reporting requirements.

Through a learning-by-doing process, this project will implement capacity development activities in Trinidad and Tobago to improve the synergistic implementation of MEAs and, by extension, contribute to global environmental benefits.

The GEF:

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. The GEF unites 183 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organisations (CSOs), and the private sector to address global environmental issues while supporting national sustainable development initiatives. Since 1992, the GEF has provided over $17 billion in grants and mobilised an additional $88 billion in financing for more than 4000 projects in 170 countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP), the GEF has invested $450 million and leveraged similar levels of co-financing supporting over 14,500 community-based projects in over 125 countries.

As an independently operating financial organisation, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), mercury, sustainable forest management, food security, sustainable cities.

This project falls under the “Cross Cutting Capacity Development Strategy” of the GEF, which has the objective of addressing important capacity needs that will enhance a country’s ability to meet its obligations under the Conventions by creating synergies, while at the same time catalysing the mainstreaming of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) into national policy, management or financial and legislative frameworks.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements of which Trinidad and Tobago are signatory include, inter alia:

Ø  Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Ø  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Ø  United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNCCD)

Ø  Montreal Protocol

Ø  Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal

Ø  Rotterdam Convention

Ø  Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Ø  Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

Ø  Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW)

Ø  Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer

Ø  Ramsar Convention (The Convention on Wetlands)

Ø  World Heritage Convention

Ø  United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)

Ø  Convention on Conservation & Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks on the High Seas

Ø  International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL)

Project Rationale:

The analysis conducted for the formulation of this project indicates that there is a clear set of capacity barriers hampering the implementation of MEAs in Trinidad and Tobago, namely:

• Need for the capacity of individuals involved in implementing MEAs to increase their skills and knowledge;
• Need for the organisations involved in implementing MEAs to improve their structures, coordination and collaboration mechanisms and procedures;
• Need for the enabling environment for implementing MEAs to be improved via development of effective supporting policy, legal, institutional and financial frameworks.

Project Objective:

u  The project’s objective is to implement capacity development activities in Trinidad and Tobago to improve the synergistic implementation of MEAs and contribute to increase national and global environmental benefits.

u  The project will address key capacity development needs related to the implementation of MEAs, seeking to strengthen synergies to achieve maximum profitability, by re-structuring organisational relationships, strengthening partnerships, relationships and commitments, and improved coordination and collaboration.

u  The project will also strengthen the capacity of the Green Fund Executing Unit (GFEU) and of the CSOs to improve the effectiveness of this unique national environmental funding mechanism.

Project Outcomes:

1. The institutional framework of the country is strengthened and more coordinated, and more able to address global environmental concerns. Under the first outcome, the project will focus on assessing and structuring an improved consultative and decision-making process that effectively integrates global environmental objectives into the existing environmental management framework in Trinidad and Tobago. The project will support the development of capacities of decision-makers to interpret and agree on how best to govern the environment in Trinidad and Tobago that not only meets national priorities, but also global environmental obligations. This outcome will focus on the processes to facilitate these decisions and strengthen the instruments available to decision-makers and policy-makers in order to provide an adequate enabling environment for improving the implementation of MEAs in Trinidad and Tobago. Activities supported by the project under this outcome will also include strengthening the process to engage, coordinate and collaborate with non-governmental stakeholders, such as NGOs, CSOs, private sector and academia.
2. The Green Fund is effective as a funding mechanism to support the implementation of MEAs in Trinidad and Tobago. Under this second outcome, project resources will be used to support activities to better align projects funded by the GFTT with the implementation of MEAs obligations in Trinidad and Tobago; hence contributing to national environmental benefits and by extension to global environmental benefits. The project will seek to increase the effectiveness of this unique national environmental funding mechanism by unleashing its funding potential. Activities supported by the project will strengthen the technical capacity of the Green Fund Executing Unit (GFEU) and the capacity of CSOs to access project funding from the GFTT.

Major Project Outputs:

Participants at the Capacity Building Workshop

EPPD staff at the Workshop