Panos Caribbean's goals are to enable the people of the Caribbean to conceive, drive and communicate their own development agenda. To develop media, information and communication partnerships, to communicate towards development.
To amplify the voices of the vulnerable, the marginalized and the excluded.
In February 2018, in response to the invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat and the High-Level Champions to non-Party stakeholders to provide inputs to the Talanoa Dialogue, Panos Caribbean, with the support of Climate Analytics, has organised a process aimed at: (a) informing civil society, the private sector and other non- State actors of this Facilitative Dialogue, (b) highlighting its relevance and importance to the Caribbean region, and (c) encouraging inputs into the Dialogue. This process builds on the campaign initiated by Caribbean stakeholders in July 2015 in support of ambition and of the 1.5 degrees target. Climate Analytics and Panos Caribbean are committed to sustain this Talanoa process among non-State actors in the Caribbean over the coming months and to provide a comprehensive statement in advance of the October deadline.
Click here to download Panos Caribbean's first input into the Talanoa Dialogue.
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The Paris Agreement of 2015 was a significant milestone in global efforts to limit dangerous climate change, but it requires radical measures and strong ambition in order to achieve its goals. At present, Parties’ pledged actions (Nationally Determined Contributions) put the world on a pathway to a 3 or 4 degree Celsius increase in average global temperatures. This is a far cry from the Paris Agreement goal to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius and pursue efforts to limit the increase in global average temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. An increase in average global temperatures by 3 or 4 degrees would be catastrophic for the countries of the Caribbean region that are already experiencing deadly impacts of climate change with a 1 degree average increase.
| An island concept encountered throughout the South Pacific archipelago, talanoa is a Fijian term referring to an inclusive, transparent dialogue based on a process of sharing stories, building empathy and reaching decisions for the collective good and, as such, relies on the pooling of ideas, skills and experience from all participants. This Caribbean process will be inspired by this concept. |
There are important opportunities in 2018 for the Caribbean region to engage in these issues. At COP21, the Parties in the Climate Change Convention decided to convene a Facilitative Dialogue, later renamed the Talanoa Dialogue (see box, right), to take stock of the collective efforts of Parties in relation to progress towards the long-term goal of the Paris Agreement and to inform the preparation of new and / or revised nationally-determined contributions. The Dialogue offers the opportunity for all actors to contribute to the discussions and negotiations that will put the Paris Agreement into action, and the Secretariat of the Convention is inviting inputs. The first deadline is 2 April 2018 for discussions in conjunction with the April/May session of the COP. A second round of consultations will take place later in the year.
We encourage concerned organisations in the Caribbean – government agencies, civil society and faith-based organisations, trade unions, community groups, scientific institutions, private sector groupings – to make their voices heard in this process.
Where are we in our response to climate change? Where do we want (and need) to go? How do we get there?
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DOWNLOAD LA PROBLÉMATIQUE DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ LGBT EN HAÏTI À TRAVERS LE PRISME DES MÉDIAS (FRENCH - PDF - 2,81MB) |
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 10 October 2017 - A new study by the LINKAGES project and Panos Caribbean highlights the past, current and potential role of the media in promoting equity and social justice in Haiti, looking at the coverage of issues affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.
Access to health is a fundamental human right, but a large proportion of the Haitian population does not have access to essential care. For the LGBT community the situation is much worse than for the rest of the population, because of discrimination, prejudice and victimisation, and the situation is even worse for people living with HIV, with recent studies having revealed that a gay man is 24 times more likely to be infected by the HIV than others are. Yet there is no public policy in Haiti that considers this reality and seeks to provide essential health care to this segment of the population.
According to Steeve Laguerre, the LINKAGES country representative for Haiti, “one of the goals of this report is to have an Haiti in which the human rights of LGBT persons are respected and they are able to live with dignity, free from discrimination, persecution, and violence. No one should be punished”, says Laguerre, “for who they are or who they love. LGBT rights are basic human rights; an LGBT person should have access to all services offered by the Haitian Government. LGBT persons are an integral part of every society and they are our colleagues, neighbours, friends, and family members, each and every Haitian citizen should be recognised and equally valued.”
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| Representatives from Jamaica at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology. From left: Kahuina Miller of the Caribbean Maritime Institute; Alicia Sutherland of the Jamaica Observer and Wesley Burger of the RJR Communications Group, with Petre Williams-Raynor, Country Director for Panos Caribbean - Jamaica and Patricia Williams-Bignall, a human resources professional turned writer. |
Panos Caribbean is among the more than 30 representatives from organisations across the developing world, gathered in China this month for a training programme to boost their knowledge of climate information services.
The “Climate Change and Climate Information Service for Developing Countries” seminar got going on May 5 at Nanjing University for Information Science and Technology (NUIST), and will run until May 25.“There is no question of the value of being a participant here. Climate change education and advocacy around climate justice forms a part of the core of what we do at Panos Caribbean,” said Petre Williams-Raynor, Country Director for Panos Jamaica.
“Only a week into the course and already my knowledge of climate change has increased. Also, my appreciation for the rigour of the research that goes into arming us with the needed information to inform our projects and, ultimately, empower our beneficiaries in the region has been significantly enhanced,” she added.
Read more ...The years-long wait goes on for a decision on a boundary for the Cockpit Country one of the few remaining forest-cover gems in Jamaica, an area rich in biological diversity and one seen as invaluable to the island's freshwater security.
"I understand that there was a protracted negotiation between the various government entities and a compromise position was reached, and that recently there has been an attempt to make that compromise position much smaller," revealed Diana McCaulay, chief executive officer for the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).
Read More at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20170406/cockpit-country-indecision
Panos Caribbean is reproducing here an article that was first published on Petre Williams-Raynor's blog, Green Seeds.
Up to last June, energy was a subject to which I directed little of my attention unless and until it came up in the context of the climate change challenge facing the Caribbean and — of course — on the monthly occasion of my electricity bill appearing in the mail.
CSEF 2017 delegates during a working group session on Monday, January 23.
Things have changed as my education has deepened — fuelled by an ever-ballooning interest and the development imperative with which I must contend as, inter alia, country head of a NGO, Panos Caribbean, which has, in particular, vulnerable and marginalised people as our focus.
Read more ...Panos Caribbean is reproducing here an article first published by Caribbean News Service.
NASSAU, The Bahamas, Jan 23 2017 – An official of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has reiterated a statement made by its president in 2014, which points to the need to move away from imported fossil fuels.
“Unless we can reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels, and unless we can substantially reduce energy costs, we will not succeed in improving our competitiveness and reducing our vulnerability to external shocks,” Head of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency at the CDB, Tessa Williams-Robertson said.
Speaking here at the opening of the fifth Caribbean Sustainable Energy Forum (CSEF), Mrs. Williams-Robertson said the meeting plays an important role in facilitating dialogue on sustainable energy development; creating a space for sharing good practices, ideas and lessons learned; and in driving decision-making, policy and action across the Caribbean.
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MARRAKECH, Morocco — Dr. James Fletcher, a well-respected figure in global climate circles and former head of the CARICOM Task Force on Sustainable Development, has come out to bat for the Adaptation Fund, whose future under the Paris Agreement is being hotly contested.
“I think the Adaptation Fund should sit under the Paris Agreement. You see, the Adaptation Fund is very important because the Adaptation Fund is specifically for adaptation. The Green Climate Fund deals with both mitigation and adaptation and if you listen to some of the pledges that have been made, there is still a heavy bias towards mitigation,” he said, from the international climate talks being held here.
“For us in the Caribbean, mitigation is important because mitigation will allow us to transform our economies, give us the energy security that we need. But as far as greenhouse gases are concerned, mitigation means nothing for the Caribbean. We contribute what, one quarter of one per cent of greenhouse gases?” he argued.
“So whilst from a moral perspective and also from an economic transformation perspective we are quite interested in mitigation and we want the mitigation funds to flow — particularly those mitigation funds that will give us access to grant or concessional financing, so some of our initiatives in geo-thermal and others can take place — the biggest issue for us is adaptation,” he said.
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The prime Ministers of Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, and Dominica were present to highlight the impacts of climate change on their islands and lobby for international action to curb climate change during the final week of the 22nd UN Climate Talks in Marrakech, Morocco.
All six Prime Ministers — David Granger from Guyana; Andrew Holness from Jamaica; Allen Chastanet from Saint Lucia; Ralph Gonsalves from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; and Roosevelt Skerrit from Dominica — addressed the high-level plenary of leaders.
The UN Climate Talks usually run for two weeks. In the first week, country negotiators and technical experts work on emerging climate issues and make recommendations for the ministers and heads of state, who usually arrive in the second week to take decisions on the issues raised.
Read more ...THE JAMAICA OFFICE OF PANOS CARIBBEAN REPRODUCES HERE THE STATEMENT DELIVERED BY JAMAICA'S PRIME MINISTER, THE MOST HONOURABLE ANDREW HOLNESS, AT THE COP 22 CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE, IN MARRAKESH, MOROCCO, THIS LAST TUESDAY, 15 NOVEMBER 2016.
JAMAICA’S NATIONAL STATEMENT TO THE HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT OF THE TWENTY SECOND SESSION OF THE MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Mr. President,
Please accept Jamaica’s heartiest congratulations and best wishes on your chairmanship of this Conference.
I also express our sincere appreciation to the Government and people of the Kingdom of Morocco, for the excellent facilities and warm hospitality afforded us.
As a small island state, Jamaica finds itself looking ahead each year with some trepidation, to the anticipated hurricane season. We do so because, increasingly, these occurrences are more threatening and more damaging in impact. Against this background, we are in deep sympathy with the governments and peoples of Haiti, Cuba, The Bahamas and the United States of America, for losses sustained as a result of the passage of Hurricane Matthew this year.
Read more ...Consumers will have the chance to get in the know on why they pay the prices they do for fuel and how they can influence those costs, thanks to a webinar organised by the CARICOM Secretariat with support from PANOS Caribbean and New Energy Events.
“This knowledge webinar provides an opportunity for citizens within the Caribbean Community to gain some level of insight into such issues as: (1) the causes of fuel (such as diesel and gasoline) price change over time; (2) where the money that is paid for a litre (or gallon) of fuel really goes; and (3) what it is that consumers are actually paying for,” said Dr. Devon Gardner, Head of the Energy Unit at the CARICOM Secretariat.
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