An integrated approach to physical adaptation and community resilience in Antigua and Barbuda’s northwest McKinnon’s watershed

Category: MCF

Antigua and Barbuda Project Launch for Integrated Climate Adaptation in Northwest McKinnon’s Watershed - August 1, 2017

This project, launched on August 1, 2017, in Antigua and Barbuda, specifically targeting the Northwest McKinnon’s Watershed area including Yorks, Woods Estates, Gambles, and eventually Cashew Hill and Bolans, aims to reduce community vulnerability and increase resilience to climate change impacts, particularly extreme rainfall, hydro-meteorological events, hurricanes, and droughts. It adopts an integrated approach combining ecosystem-based adaptation and engineering solutions with social and financial measures. The project's purpose is to enhance the watershed's capacity to manage extreme rainfall and simultaneously strengthen the built environment against multiple climate stressors, ensuring the community and ecosystems can withstand projected climate change. The scope covers urban and semi-urban waterways (3 km), vulnerable households and businesses, and community buildings within the targeted areas. Key obligations and activities include: 1. **Implementing concrete adaptation actions:** This involves interventions along waterways using ecosystem-based approaches (e.g., wetland restoration to address disease vectors like mosquitoes) and engineering solutions (e.g., drainage systems, retention ponds) to build resilience to climate change projections and extreme events. 2. **Disbursing concessional loans:** Establishing a revolving fund mechanism to provide low-interest loans to vulnerable households and businesses. These loans are intended to finance adaptation measures in built infrastructure to meet new adaptation guidelines and standards, such as water harvesting, hurricane shutters, mosquito screens, and water storage. 3. **Supporting social adaptive capacity and local ownership:** This includes awarding contracts to the community for adaptation work and enhancing the climate resilience of community buildings (centers, schools, clinics) to withstand hurricanes and droughts, enabling them to serve as shelters. The project is funded, in part, by the Adaptation Fund and involves coordination among multiple government agencies including the Department of Environment (DOE), Department of Public Works, Ministry of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, National Office of Disaster Services (NODS), and Social Services. It builds upon previous legislative efforts (legislation in 2015) and aims to utilize mechanisms like the SIRF Fund. Affected sectors include community residents, vulnerable households and businesses, infrastructure (drainage, roads, sidewalks, buildings), ecosystems (wetlands, waterways), public health (disease vectors), social services (shelters, support for disabled persons), finance (loans, funding mechanisms), and insurance (mentioned as a sector impacted by climate change). No specific project-wide deadlines or compliance dates are mentioned in the provided text, other than the launch date of the meeting (August 1, 2017) and references to past legislative and funding timelines.

Project Launch
An Integrated Approach to Physical Adaptation and Community Resilience in
Antigua and Barbuda’s Northwest McKinnon’s Watershed
MINUTES
Tuesday 1
st
August 2017
Department of Environment Conference Room
Opening and Context Setting: Community
Background by Ministers
Opening and Context • The York’s Community area is particularly affected by
Setting: Community flooding. Water can rise to a height of 3ft in homes, during a
Background by storm.
Ministers • Development, especially the use of concrete structures
prevents water absorption, which worsens flooding.
• Another problem is the backup of water from the salt pond,
when it rains.
• There were two disabled persons needing shelter in the last
storm. Provisions need to be made for transporting disabled
persons and ensuring the shelters are suitable for them.
• Public works needs to complete the sidewalk and roads to
reduce flooding.
• The hope is that Antigua would be leading the charge in
climate adaptation in the Caribbean.
• Antigua has several achievements in environmental
protection such as the banning of plastic bags in every
supermarket in Antigua and the polystyrene ban has just been
introduced.
• Antigua is one of the first countries to access funds from the
AD.

• Cashew Hill area has a very serious flooding problem. The
Adaptation Fund will provide funding for Woods Estates and
Gambles to Southwest Mckinnons in Yorks. Some
environmental problems facing these areas are: flooding,
mosquito infestation and resulting diseases and the smell of
stagnant water.
• One of the problems is that heavy duty equipment used to
remove grass removes soil from the trenches as well. This
leads to more water stagnation.
• This project will provide low interest loans to people to
improve their homes, for climate change making them
‘Climate Proof’.
Setting the Scene Presentation
Setting the Scene by • The DOE is very excited about the possibilities of his project.
Ambassador Diann It is important to have the cooperation of all agencies in order to
Black-Layne, Director access funding from the international community (Department of
of DOE Public Works, Legal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, NODS,
Social Services and other services).
• Ministers and members of the public are truly starting to

Tags: Adaptation, Adaptation Planning, Banking, Biodiversity, Buildings, Cities, Citizens' Assembly, Climate Change, Climate Change Risks, Climate Finance, Climate Fund, Climate Justice, Climate Protection, Compliance, Consultation, Desertification, Development, Disaster Risk Management, Disease Prevention, Drr, Education, Energy Storage, Environmental Degradation, Equity, Finance, Funding, Governance, Guidance, Health, Healthy Environment, Heat, Housing, Incentive, Industry, Infrastructure, Institutions / Administrative Arrangements, Insurance, Investment, Jobs, Land Use, Loan, Meteorology, Methodology, Natural Resources, Oceans, Planning, Policy, Procurement, Regulation, Reinsurance, Rivers, Road, Social Justice, Soil Erosion, Spatial Planning, Subsidy, Technology, Transport, Walking, Water, Water Management, Wetlands, Wind

Sector: Multi-sector

Original Source