The Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (J-CCCP) is designed to strengthen the capacity of countries in the Caribbean to invest in climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies, as prioritised in their Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). These technologies will help reduce the dependence on fossil fuel imports, setting the region on a low-emission development path; as well as improve the region’s ability to respond to climate risks and opportunities in the long-run, through resilient development approaches that go beyond disaster response to extreme events.

The Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership brings together policy makers, experts and representatives of communities to encourage policy innovation for climate technology incubation and diffusion. By doing so, the Partnership aims to ensure that barriers to the implementation of climate-resilient technologies are addressed and overcome in a participatory and efficient manner. As a result, concrete mitigation and adaption will be implemented on the ground, in line with the countries’ long-term strategies. Building upon and supported by the NAMAs and NAPs, the Partnership also supports the incubation of climate technology into targeted public sectors, private industries, and community groups and enterprises so that green, low-emission climate-resilient technologies can be tested, refined, adopted, and sustained as practical measures to enhance national, sub-national and community level resilience. The implementation process, especially at the policy level, is oriented around a participatory, multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach. Engagement of all levels of society in a participatory approach is paramount in effecting a transformational change in how climate and disaster risk are addressed in the Caribbean. This includes the need to educate civil society and vulnerable groups and involve them in designing appropriate solutions and subsequent capacity building, promoting buy-in and stewardship. Youth, women, the elderly, the impoverished, minority groups, indigenous people and persons with disabilities are among those with special vulnerabilities and are at risk from exclusion, particularly in decision-making processes. The J-CCCP seeks to ensure that strategies and policies address underlying vulnerabilities which are being exacerbated by climate change and preventing the building of resilience.

A central pillar of the Partnership’s work involves supporting institutional and technical capacities in the target countries and strengthening knowledge networks through South-South and North-South experiences. J-CCCP provides institutional support and training toward the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation-related planning processes and policy responses, seeks to improve the culture of sharing data, experiences, and lessons learned intra-regionally, as well as provides opportunities for the Caribbean to learn from the advances and experiences of countries such as Japan. The Partnership emphasizes South-South cooperation and sharing of tools, methodologies and experiences across the region, utilizing SIDS-specific research, technology and innovation to find appropriate and sustainable solutions. Additionally, it provides a regional platform for the promotion of low-emission and climate-resilient technologies for the Caribbean, considering the multi-sectoral coordination challenges amongst climate change and other stakeholders in the region. It will also bring regional scale to attract and catalyse additional/incremental technology investments, by removing the barriers preventing investment into these applications: financial (upfront cost of adaptation/mitigation technologies), information (limited awareness of their long-term benefits) and capacity (policy/technical, institutional and individual constraints to embrace these technologies). Lastly, J-CCCP supports strengthened North-South networks, including the creation of and participation in a climate-resilient technology transfer, development and investments forum in the Caribbean that will serve as a knowledge hub/innovation ecosystem.

Implemented by the United Nations Development Programme with financial and technical support from the Government of Japan, the Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership is coordinated and managed out of the UNDP Sub-Regional Office (SRO) for the Eastern Caribbean based in Barbados. A Project Management Unit based in the SRO is responsible for the day-to-day management and coordination of the project, and entrusted to support the SRO to deliver on the outputs of the project. A Project Board, comprised of beneficiary representatives, executive/project representatives, and development partner representatives, is responsible for management decisions for the project and plays a critical role in project monitoring and evaluations by quality assuring these processes and products, and using evaluations for performance improvement, accountability and learning. Additionally, the Partnership is supported by a Technical Advisory Group, which provides strategic technical oversight to the PMU for effective implementation, including building synergies with ongoing activities in the countries and the region and ensuring alignment with regional objectives. The UNDP Country Offices (Belize, Barbados and the OECS, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname) are also responsible for overseeing the implementation of certain activities in their respective programme countries. As key stakeholders, CARICOM, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Embassy of Japan, and Governments from Guyana, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname, Jamaica and Belize are involved in stewardship and decision-making processes.

Government of Japan, United Nations Development Programme, Governments of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Republic of Guyana, Jamaica, Belize and the Republic of Suriname, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, University of West Indies, and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change