March 1, 2024
The CARICOM Secretariat, in collaboration with Saint Lucia and Suriname, organized a three-day workshop from 13-15 February 2024 in Saint Lucia, to provide support to Saint Lucia for the production of a contemporary Environmental and Climate Change Statistical Compendium this year. The compendium will include data on areas such as Saint Lucia’s population and households, biodiversity, land use, forestry, solid waste management, energy, and access to potable water, and will form the basis for policy and decision-making. Saint Lucia last produced a compendium in 2001.
Workshop participants comprised National Statistics Officers and Environmental Focal Points in Saint Lucia, who were trained to fill data gaps to produce the compendium and provide additional data on Environmental and Climate Change Statistics.
The sessions included presentations on Suriname’s and CARICOM’s experiences producing environmental and Climate Change Statistics and indicators; challenges and opportunities in compiling those statistics; best practices in data dissemination; and the quality and governance associated with building an environmental statistic system.
Representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat facilitated the workshop, which was funded under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) Strengthening the Framework for CARICOM Integration and Cooperation Process Programme (SFCICPP).
The 11th EDF supports the Centres of Excellence (CoE) established by the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians (SCCS) to provide technical assistance/capacity building by identifying strengths, competencies and best practices of respective Member States in specific areas of Statistics. This programme is also intended to undertake attachments/exchange visits to CARICOM countries, which require capacity building in these areas.
Suriname is the CoE in Environment and Climate Change Statistics.