Climate Resilient Urban Development - Trinidad and Tobago - May 2025

Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, The Honourable Khadijah Ameen

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) partnered with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) to deliver a multi-year project on “Multi-Country Climate Resilient Development Initiative”. Funded through the Green Climate Fund’s Regional Readiness & Preparatory Support line, the project is active in in four countries (Saint Lucia, Dominica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago) and has been developed in partnership with their respective governments.

The 36-month (2023 – 2026) project aim is to enhance the capacity of CARICOM member states in building the climate resilience of national and sub-national governments and the urban spaces they govern. It is envisaged that through this project, the CCCCC and its partners will be able to mainstream climate actions in urban governance, planning and development. More specifically the project is:

• increasing knowledge and awareness of the specific climate change impacts and challenges in urban communities;

• improving data access and disaggregation at the city and urban level including geospatial data;

• Increasing the consideration for climate adaptation and mitigation and disaster risk reduction in development planning in urban spaces;

• building capacities at the national and local government levels to incorporate climate action into the urban development process;

• increasing access to low carbon tools and technologies to support low carbon development pathways in urban communities;

• informing of financing directed towards climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban sector projects.

Assemblyman Sonny Craig, Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Chief Secretary. of the THA addresses the Workshop, with the attention of Claire Frost, CLGF Head of Programmes (seated to his left).

The project undertakes a set of GAP assessments at a country level looking at current urbanization and settlement patterns, existing legislation and key emerging challenges. The three-day workshop held at the Trinidad Hilton from May 27th to May 29th 2025 created a space to reflect on the data collected and the local knowledge and experience of key stakeholders from across government to set priorities and feed into the development of this action plan, including the impact of climate change on land and ecosystems degradation, settlement on coastal and flood plains, socio-economic factors influencing vulnerability and adaptive capacity, transportation and infrastructure development patterns in urban communities; as well as the existing policy, legislative and institutional frameworks governing settlement planning, urban infrastructure and urban land management, technological and financing gaps in implementing green infrastructure and practices, and the overarching implications for climate risk and low carbon development.

At the close of the project partner countries are expected to have climate resilient National Urban Policies (cr-NUP) to support governments to facilitate positive urbanization patterns which facilitate productive, competitive, prosperous, and climate resilient urban spaces. 

Thematic Focus Workshop

Group photo of the Workshop's presenters and participants.

The national level workshop held in Trinidad and Tobago enabled key stakeholders to exchange on key issues impacting climate resilient urban development. The  workshop was able to build climate literacy and focus on key issues impacting a coordinated approach to addressing climate stress in urban environments; al while taking a systems approach that sought to develop a matrix of short, medium and long term priorities as well as those issues which are most to least pressing and most to least deliverable. It also addressed the different role of actors in the urban environment and target priorities for action to those most able to facilitate change.

Addressing the opening of the workshop was the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government, The Honourable Khadijah Ameen. The workshop itself was chaired by Claire Frost, CLGF Head of Programmes; with several modules being presented by Professor Michelle Mycoo, from the Department of Geomatics Engineering and Land Management (the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad).

TTALGA Chairman & Executive Committee Member, Akeilah Glasgow Warner (left) addresses Josh Drayton, Programme Officer, Office of the Campus Principal, UWI, St. Augustine.

Representative bodies that were present and made presentations included: TTALGA; Municipal Councils; and the Tobago House of Assembly. Also in this list were representations and presentations from the Ministries of Rural Development & Local Government; Planning; Finance; Works (Drainage Division); Health (Environmental Health Unit); Agriculture (Horticultural Services Division); and Energy & Energy Industries. Other attendees from the Office of Disaster Planning & Management, the Solid Waste Management Company and the Water & Sewerage Authority were included during the three-day session and in the breakout workshops held.