GEF SGP Knowledge Fair

The Global Environmental Facility Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) Knowledge Fair was a two-day event held at the UWI-Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business on May 28-29, 2015. 

The SGP is funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and  implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). GEF SGP provides financial and technical support for projects that conserve and restore the environment while enhancing people’s well-being and livelihoods. 

The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, represented by Mr. Javed Lakhan (Environmental Policy Analyst) sits on the  National Steering Committee (NSC) of the GEF SGP. The NSC comprises voluntary representatives from local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), government, academia, UNDP and occasionally co-funding donors, indigenous peoples' organisations, the private sector and the media. 

As a member of the NSC, along with contributing in part to its WED activities,  the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) participated in the GEF SGP UNDP Knowledge Fair, 2015. At the Fair, the Ministry’s booth   highlighted some of the works of the Environmental Policy and Planning Division (EPPD) specifically the work of the National Ozone Unit.

 

Ms. Krysten Harris (Associate Professional, NOU), speaking to attendees about ozone layer depletion at the Knowledge Fair

Ms. Neera Singh (Ozone Assistant, NOU) speaking to a student of Palo Seco Secondary School about the ozone layer

Caribbean Thematic Workshop on Enabling National Conditions for the Adoption of Standards in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Sector

The United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean  (UNEP ROLAC) hosted the Workshop on Enabling National Conditions for the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) Sector during the period  October 14 - 16, 2014 in Panama City, Panama.

The Caribbean Region was represented by delegations from Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago. The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was represented at this three (3) day Workshop by Mr. Javed Lakhan,  Environmental Policy Analyst, Environmental Policy and Planning Division, Ministry of Environment and  Water Resources.

The meeting focused on the sharing of experiences among Caribbean countries with respect to the formulation and  adoption of National Standards in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Sector, in the context of the Montreal Protocol and each country’s Hydrochlorofluorocarbon Phase-Out Management Plan (HPMP). Other important issues discussed included the drafting and adoption of regional standards in the RAC sector as well as which countries would take the lead in formulation of these regional standards.

Overall the workshop was very productive, in that, it laid the foundation for considerable progress to be made in terms of collaboration between Caribbean and Latin American countries in creating, adapting, adopting and implementing proper standards within the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Sector.