HOUSING and Water Minister Irfaan Ali is currently in Stockholm, Sweden participating  in the Expert and Ministerial Panel on the theme ‘Water Adaptation to Climate Change: Prospects and Challenges for Latin America and the Caribbean Region’, the primary event of which took place yesterday  in commemoration of World Water Week. The institutions involved in the promotion of the Regional Policy Dialogue on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Water Resources Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean – one of which is the IDB – say that the purpose of this Expert and Ministerial Panel is to share the preliminary conclusions of the Regional Policy Dialogue process on adaptation to climate change that was initiated earlier this year, as well as to sketch an action plan on future steps and measures in this matter.
The results of this interaction shall be presented in a parallel event at the 16th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 16) to be held at Cancun, Mexico, from November 29 to December 10, 2010.
Minister Ali was invited “to have a look at the programme of the Expert and Ministerial Panel”, with a time slot specifically assigned for his intervention as a panelist.
For this purpose he was required to prepare a presentation that covers key aspects of adaptation to climate change in the water resources sector of Guyana, such as information needs, good practice cases, lessons learned, public policy examples; or any additional topic he deemed relevant in this context.
He was also asked to refer in his presentation to the concepts and propositions contained in the policy document ‘Challenges and opportunities to adapt to climate change in the water resources sector: Proposition of a Regional Agenda’, as this document is being elaborated in the context of the aforementioned Regional Policy Dialogue.
After the presentations of each of the panelists, there was a moderated panel debate on common aspects and problems, diversity of approaches, as well as challenges and common needs. The panel concluded with comments and questions by the audience.
Dr. Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm chaired the event. The Housing and Water Minister was expected to team with Joseph Gilbert, the Grenada Minister for Works, Physical Development and Public Utilities, in the first discussion.