Trinidad and Tobago
Participation in the sub-project- Resilient School Feeding Programs
School feeding is an important food and nutrition security strategy and safety net program to address all forms of malnutrition in many parts of the world and in the Caribbean. Beyond being a policy instrument for access to food, in some countries efforts have been made to adopt a "healthy eating" approach, to address aspects of both overweight and undernutrition and achieving adequate physical and cognitive development. This is particularly important since eating and nutritional habits are mainly acquired during childhood and adolescence.
Thus, in the current context of COVID-19, ensuring the continuity and improvement of SAPs that include the participation of local agriculture and fishing, both during and in the post-COVID19 period, is a valuable strategy, not only for guarantee access to healthy food, but also to stimulate local economies. The Resilient Caribbean Initiative supports this effort.
Participation in the sub-project- Resilient aquaculture for food security and well-being in the Caribbean
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Food import dependency remains an economic and food security problem for the Caribbean region, which imports 60 to 80 percent of its food. The countries of the region have some of the highest obesity rates in the world, and about a third of their population lives in poverty. There is room and clear economic and social benefit for the development of a locally produced, accessible and nutritious food source, and aquaculture is capable of providing a clear and fruitful part of the solution.
Aquaculture offers a flexible method of using available aquatic and terrestrial resources to compensate for deficiencies in capture fisheries and unreliable or unsustainable imports. Based on the Caribbean's available aquatic resources, limited arable land, and worsening water scarcity problems, aquaculture represents a resilient approach to promoting food security and rural employment now and in the future.
Trinidad and Tobago and three other Caribbean countries are actively seeking to develop their aquaculture industries to improve the resilience of their fisheries and aquaculture sector. The Resilient Caribbean Initiative supports this effort.
Participation in Component 2 - Facilitation of access to climate and environmental financing for resilience and adaptation to climate change
The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Caribbean are particularly vulnerable to global systemic risks, due to their small territories, dependence on food imports and the tourism industry, as well as their exposure to extreme hydro meteorological events. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has added a new layer of vulnerability to the economies and livelihoods of these island countries, completely affecting the well-being of their inhabitants and further evidencing their fragility in the face of external risks.
The Caribbean is particularly vulnerable to climate change; it faces significant and extensive climatic variations, changing rainfall patterns, and the increasing occurrence and strength of natural disasters in the region.
Trinidad and Tobago, like other Caribbean countries, has a high need to promote resilience and adaptation measures to climate change. To this end, through the Resilient Caribbean Initiative, work is being done, on the one hand, on strengthening the capacities of government technical teams in the design of technical cooperation and/or investment projects to access climate and environmental financing and on the exchange of experiences between countries in the case of multi-country proposals. On the other hand, technical assistance is given to the governments of the countries, in the design and presentation of proposals for technical cooperation and/or investment projects, whether national or multi-country, to be presented to the Fund for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and/or the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Thus, the Resilient Caribbean Initiative contributed to the preparation of project proposals:
1) Improvement of the monitoring system for the effects of climate change in the agricultural sector of Trinidad and Tobago in the GCF preparation window that was approved and is running and;
2) Conservation of Biodiversity and Restoration of Agroecological Lands in Productive Landscapes of Trinidad and Tobago (BIOREACH), which was endorsed by the GEF Executive Director in 2021.