By: Staff Writer
May 11, 2021
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in a recent report hailed Barbados’s “Roofs to Reefs” climate change policy as a “good example” of climate change mitigation.
The IADB, in its latest report, “Climate Policies in Latin American and the Caribbean: Success Stories and Challenges in the Fight Against Climate Change,” highlighted that in Barbados the “Roofs to Reefs” programme has been a good example of a government led initiative bringing about positive results in climate change mitigation.
The report said: “The Roofs to Reefs Programme (R2RP) adopted by the government of Barbados is a good example of a whole-of-government initiative that integrates mitigation and adaptation climate concerns with social policy and infrastructure resilience to natural disasters, such as hurricanes.
“With a strong participation by the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Investment, the R2RP aims to improve the resilience of the housing stock and access to water and sanitation while eradicating pit toilets and promoting the use of solar and other green energy options to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. It also seeks to address direct line electricity transmission, improve water quality, and reduce the volumes and impacts of waste (both solid and liquid).
“These efforts are expected to lead to better living conditions and terrestrial and marine environments, including gullies and coral reefs. To create an enabling environment to achieve the R2RP agenda, a range of regulatory provisions need to be either created or amended. The IDB’s technical and financial support focuses on the most critical parts of that reform agenda. As in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, architectural and engineering standards in Barbados have been replaced over time with less desirable practices. This shift is particularly concerning given the country’s exposure to extreme weather events.”
The report continued, “Under the R2RP, the Urban Development Commission (UDC) and the Rural Development Commission (RDC) will carry out a retrofitting program for vulnerable homes, including the replacement of pit latrines. The UDC and RDC are expected to execute the projects in accordance with recognized international and national standards covering such technical aspects as roof pitch and foundation type to ensure greater resilience of housing projects against hurricanes. New construction, as well as retrofitting and reinforcing existing structures in this manner would minimize the risks of overturning, uplifting, or sliding due to strong winds or water currents.”
The R2RP is a part of a wider IADB loan project for the country to the tune of $80m that was announced and signed last year March for Barbados to modernize its regulatory framework and strengthen its public policies oriented towards sustainable development and climate resilience. The loan agreement, Sustainable Development Policy Program, was signed and then closed last year, and then reopened again under the name, Sustainable Development Policy Program II with the new project documents or loan agreement having not been signed as yet and official work has not begun on the project.
The loan was supposed to strengthen the legislation in Barbados to support more climate friendly initiatives as well as focusing on the modernization of integrated coastal zone management policies, and include the recent update of Barbados’ returnable containers legislation to promote recycling of a broader set of packaging materials and to reduce pollution of land and coastal resources. In addition, the loan was supposed to support reforms needed to strengthen disaster risk resilience and management.
However, the R2RP goes back as far as 2019 with Trevor Prescod, minister for the environment and national beatification, speaking at a conference that: “The Prime Minister has launched a major national initiative to support our resilience building, in the face of the increased threats of climate change, through the ‘Roofs to Reefs’ programme, [which] intends to enhance the resilience of low and middle income householders to extreme weather.”
Caribbean Magazine Plus has also learned that request for proposals have gone out for vendors to provide designs for climate resilient, low cost housing, back in early 2020, but no information on the efficacy or state this initiative is right now.
Despite the loan support and achievements on climate change mitigation strategies, the report also noted that Barbados is one of the countries least affected by extreme weather and climate harshness in the Caribbean.
