Antigua and Barbuda participates in Adaption Fund’s 2023 Country Exchange

St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda: Antigua and Barbuda participated in the Adaption Fund’s 2023 Country Exchange in Indonesia. The nation was represented by the M&E of the Department of Environment (DOE) – Gita Gardner, according to the update by the Antigua and Barbuda Department of Environment.

The DOE, while sharing highlights of the month of July, outlined that this Exchange Programme in Pekalongan, Indonesia, majorly focused on National Implementing Entities (NIEs).

According to the information shared by the Department of Environment, this exchange, executed under the Adaptation Fund’s Readiness programme, aimed to facilitate capacity-building support for accredited national implementing entities (NIEs) such as the DOE, through cross-learning and knowledge sharing among NIEs with ecosystem-based adaptation projects in development and/or implementation.

The event was hosted by KEMITRAAN (Partnership for Governance Reform), and site visits were held in Pekalongan City, where various Adaptation Fund-funded programmes are underway to build coastal city resilience to climate change impacts and natural disasters.

This exchange also provided an opportunity for the DOE to share lessons learned during the implementation of its ecosystem-based adaptation project, ‘An Integrated Approach to Physical Adaptation and Community Resilience in Antigua and Barbuda’s Northwest McKinnon’s Watershed’, also funded by the Adaptation Fund.

Along with this, the Department of Environment also shared the update regarding the participation of its members in the GVF Regional Dialogue and Workshop for Direct Access Entities (DAEs) in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Accordingly, two members – Christa-Joy Burton and Gita Gardner, shared their experiences, participated in GCF bilaterals and peer-to-peer exchanges with regional colleagues, and gained additional knowledge on navigating GCF standards for accreditation, project development, and paradigm shift pathways.

The dialogue also included technical discussions on topics such as pipeline development, readiness proposals for climate investment planning, and adaptive management for grants.

As per the update, the DOE-ATG has been an accredited entity to the GCF as a national Direct Access Entity (DAE) since 2017 and continues to work towards enhancing Antigua and Barbuda’s environment through its partnership with international climate funds.