Caribbean Tourism: Climate Smart and Sustainable
Origins of the project
Managing the impact of climate change and related hazardous events has been a priority for development work in the Caribbean region for many years. In 2014, when the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of States established the Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme (NDRM) with funding from the European Union, the Caribbean Development Bank became one of the first implementing partners; the programme is a 20 million euro initiative and is dedicated to building the Caribbean’s capacity to prepare for, manage, respond to and recover from the potential impacts of natural hazards.
The National Disaster Risk Management Programme has funded a range of resilience building projects and works closely with regional stakeholders; one such stakeholder is the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). Recognizing the impact of climate change on regional tourism, the CTO took steps to build resilience in the tourism sector through their Climate Smart and Sustainable Caribbean Tourism Industry project.
Implementing actors and responsibilities
Amanda Charles, Sustainable Tourism Specialist at the Caribbean Tourism Organization, explains that in 2017, through support from the NDRM, the CTO was successful in being awarded this particular project which benefitted thirteen member countries of the CTO and of the Caribbean Development Bank.
Objectives
The project focused on updating the Caribbean Sustainable Policy Framework and incorporating tourism risk management and climate change strategies. It also aimed to mainstream climate resilience into tourism business operations, climate proofing and tourism-related strategies. Other significant elements of the project involved preparing a strategy document and developing a disaster risk management guide for the Caribbean tourism sector, as well as compiling a series of knowledge products related to best practices in sustainable and responsible tourism.
Achievements
The first aspect of the Campaign was delivered via CTO’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn social media pages, reaching over 300 000 persons who shared, liked, or commented on the 80 visuals that were posted.
The Campaign also included a 7-part video miniseries which was produced and aired on CaribVision Television, reaching another 2.5 million viewers in 23 countries across the region as well as CTO’s YouTube channel.
Capacity building was cited as a critical element which evolved the facilitation of five national training workshops in member countries deemed to be more vulnerable and most recently impacted by extreme hazards; these include Haiti, Dominica, The Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica. An attractive postcard was also developed to target visitors to the region and a poster featuring tips for tourism businesses was also created and disseminated.
Project features
Year: 2017
Total cost of the project: € 618 423
Implementing Agency: Caribbean Tourism Organization
Benefiting Zone: Members of the CTO – Caribbean Countries
Cooperation and technical assistance: Caribbean Development Bank
Funded by: The European Union through the Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme in the CARIFORUM.