The Council of Ministers of Environment and Sustainability held their annual council meeting (COM/ES) on Anguilla.
The major focus was on possible creation of a Sustainable Finance Mechanism (SFM) for the environment of the islands, building on a mandate from last year's meeting. The dialogue was well informed and well attended, with 67 participants on line and more than a dozen in person, including nearly all of the Ministers.
From a myriad of possibilities, the OECS Commission recommended the creation of a Project Readiness Mechanism (PRM) that would be based inside the Commission and whose task would be to take project concepts from island states and turn them into actionable grant projects for funding by major donors. Christian Wayne, an independent expert engaged by CCN, presented a paper prepared for the event on the topic and played a role in explaining and defending the Commission ideas. They hope to do mainly regional (more than one island) projects but did not reject helping on national-level ideas. It was discussed that the Commission would need more staff to manage the submissions promptly and successfully. Vincent Sheeny of UNEP spoke up to say that the burden on the Commission would be large. The Commission indicated there may be interest by a major donor in funding their staffing needs.
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