A regional committee will discuss the way forward after the signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement on Earth Day.

The Regional Coordinating Committee on Climate Change (RCCCC), under the chairmanship of Hon. Dr. James Fletcher of Saint Lucia, will meet in Saint Lucia this week to review the progress made in the implementation of the region’s climate change plan.

The RCCCC will also discuss the way forward after the signing of the Paris Climate Change Agreement by a record 175 countries at the UN Headquarters in New York, on Earth Day, April 22.

The "Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to a Changing Climate" was approved by CARICOM Heads of Government in July 2009, and three years later, in 2012, the CARICOM Heads of Government approved an implementation plan for the Regional Framework, which defined the regional strategy for coping with climate change and developing greater resilience to the impacts of climate change over the period 2011-2021.

The Regional Framework and the implementation plan were prepared by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) headquartered in Belize. The 5Cs serves as the secretariat for the Regional Coordinating Committee and provides technical support for its work.

The RCCCC is chaired by Saint Lucia’s Minister for Public Service, Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, Hon. Dr. James Fletcher and comprises representatives from a wide range of regional organizations.

Other members of the RCCCC are the Head of the Caribbean Institute for Metrology and Hydrology, the Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Executive Director of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), the Executive Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Resident Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and representatives of the University of the West Indies, the CARICOM Secretariat, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Caribbean Development Bank, the British Government’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the University of Guyana.

The meeting of the Regional Coordinating Committee on Climate Change will take place at the Coco Palm Resort, Rodney Bay, on Wednesday,  April 27, and Thursday,  April 28.