(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The 16th Conference of Parties (COP 16) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is just two months away and the Caribbean Community is already steeped in its preparations for this Conference, optimistic that the outcomes will be more positive than those in COP15, Copenhagen, Denmark.

While the Community may be reviewing its strategy for negotiations, and tweaking the composition of its negotiation team, one thing is certain: it remains resolute on its position on the issue of Climate Change.

This was made clear at the Third Joint Meeting of the Council for Trade and Development (COTED) and the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), which focussed on Environment, in Guyana on Thursday. The Meeting re-affirmed that the Liliendaal Declaration on Climate Change and Development is still the position of CARICOM in Climate Change Negotiations leading up to Cancun, Mexico, where the Conference will be held in December 2010.

The Liliendaal Declaration on Climate Change and Development, issued by the 30th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in July 2009, to date has served as a useful and uncompromising guide for negotiations leading up to and at COP 15 in Denmark.

The first session of this two-day Ministerial Meeting benefited from the presence of two Heads of Government - the President of Guyana, H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo and Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Stephenson King, who chaired the session by virtue of having lead responsibility for Sustainable Development including Climate Change in the quasi-Cabinet of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government.

The Meeting agreed on the importance of greater political involvement in all stages of preparation for the Cancun Conference, and in this regard, reconfigured the CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development, expanding its membership to include political, technical and academic involvement. Its primary mandate is to guide the negotiations in preparation for Cancun.

The Meeting also decided to extend the life of the Task Force to December 2010. The re-configured Task Force will now be chaired at the ministerial level with Saint Lucia assuming the Chair. Formerly, it was chaired by CARICOM Secretariat’s Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development.

The decision to revamp the Task Force was made on the premise that it was imperative to strike a balance between the technical and political perspective in the Climate Change negotiations in order to seize all available opportunities that might arise in Mexico. In this regard, the Meeting stressed the importance of having a strong political presence in Cancun and urged the reconstituted Task Force on Climate Change to begin work immediately. The CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development was established in 2008 to “facilitate and coordinate technical work, advise on policy directions on climate change, and provide support to CARICOM Member States in their preparations for key regional, hemispheric and other global forums and in their negotiations with international development partners.” - 30 -

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org