Since 2016, the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) have been holding joint annual meetings, called CCI-CBF Week. This year’s meetings represents the culmination of Phase II of the CCI, which was launched at the CCI Summit in 2013.
Join us, as we:
- Celebrate CCI’s achievements since the launch of CCI in 2008.
- Recognize the accomplishments and challenges in the region in the areas of effective management, sustainable financing, climate adaptation, and implementation of a nature-based economy, and identify necessary actions to ensure healthy ecosystems.
- Identify partners and opportunities for developing the way forward for biodiversity conservation, protected area management and nature-based economic development in the Caribbean.
JOIN EVENT
Click on the logos to learn more about the hosts:
CCI-CBF Week 2020
Register here to access the event summary and links to all sessions
Nature-Based Solutions for our Caribbean Future. Join us!
Meet the Speakers
CCI-CBF Week 2020
Sir Richard Branson is Founder of the Virgin Group, which has expanded into many diverse sectors from travel to telecommunications, health to banking and music to leisure. Having started Virgin as a mail order record retailer in 1970, Richard founded Virgin Records. There are now more than 40 Virgin companies worldwide, employing approximately 71,000 people in over 35 countries. Since starting youth culture magazine Student aged 16, Richard has found entrepreneurial ways to provoke positive change in the world. In 2004 he established non-profit foundation Virgin Unite to tackle tough social and environmental problems and strives to make business a force for good. Most of his time is now spent working with Virgin Unite and organisations it has incubated, such as The Elders, The Carbon War Room (now merged with The Rocky Mountain Institute), The B Team, Ocean Unite and the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship. Richard was awarded a knighthood for services to entrepreneurship. He lives on Necker Island with his wife Joan, and has two children, Holly and Sam, and five grandchildren.
Sir Richard Branson
Founder, Virgin Group
Ambassador Peter Thomson is a Fijian diplomat who served as President of the General Assembly of the United Nations from September 2016 until September 2017. He was Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 2010 and 2016. For the year 2014, he was elected President of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS). He led the Fiji team of diplomats that in 2013 chaired the Group of 77 and China – the UN’s largest negotiating group comprised of 133 developing countries. He was elected as President of the International Seabed Authority’s Assembly in 2011 and as President of its Council in 2015. In October 2017, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ambassador Thomson as the first UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, in which role he is driving the implementation of SDG14, the UN Sustainable Development Agenda’s goal to conserve and sustainably use the resources of the Ocean.
H.E. Peter Thomson
UNSG’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, United Nations
Minister Ferreira completed his Associated Degree in Chemistry and Biology from the College of The Bahamas. Thereafter he obtained an honours degree in Ecology with Chemistry from the University of the West Indies in 1990, finally completing an honours law degree from the University of London in 1996. He was called to the bar of England and Wales at Lincolns Inn on 12th October 2000 and the Bahamas Bar on 6th December 2000. Minister Ferreira’s professional career spans three disciplines, covering Ecology, Law and Television Broadcasting. He joined the Bahamas Electricity Corporation in July of 1994 where he served as Environmental Officer for six (6) years. In 2000 he started private environmental consulting, having had conduct of dozens of environmental impact assessments and environmental management plans. He has extensive expertise in the energy sector, water and sanitation sectors having worked on several projects funded by the IDB, CARICOM and the German Development Bank. Mr. Ferreira began his television broadcasting career in 2001, as the first co-host of the popular national morning television show Bahamas at Sunrise. In 2017 he was elected to the House of Assembly as the Member of Parliament for Marathon and was appointed Minister of the Environment and Housing.
Hon. Romauld Ferreira
Minister, Ministry of Environment & Housing, The Bahamas
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema is the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. She was the Director of the Law Division and has worked with UNEP for over two decades. Prior to joining the Law Division in June 2014, she was the Deputy Director of the Ecosystems Division, in charge of coordination, operations and programme delivery from 2012 and for one year, also serviced as Acting Director to the same Division. In 2018, in addition to her role as the Law Division Director, she was also the Acting Director of the Corporate Services Division where she led the management of the human resources, financial operations and management and other administrative functions for the entire Organization. In 2009 she had been appointed as the Executive Secretary of the UNEP/Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), Acting Executive Secretary of the UNEP/ASCOBANS and Interim Executive Secretary of the UNEP/Gorilla Agreement, all based in Bonn, Germany and held that position until 2012 and thereafter she joined the Ecosystems Division in Nairobi, Kenya. Before joining UNEP, Elizabeth worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania and left as a Counsellor/Senior Legal Counsel. A lawyer and career diplomat with LLB (Hons) from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, LLM from Dalhousie University, Canada and Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Diplomacy (Summa Cum Laude) from the Centre of Foreign Relations and Diplomacy in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema
Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity
German Career Diplomat, Lawyer, Ambassador to Trinidad & Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean States since September 2019
H.E. Ute König
Ambassador, German Embassy Port-of-Spain
Stiell is a Senator and Minister of State with responsibility for the Environment in the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment; and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development, with specific responsibility for Human Resource Development in the Keith Mitchell Administration.
In the Cabinet resuffle of 1 September 2017, Stiel was elevated to the Minister of Education from his original posting as Parliamentary Secretary in that Ministry.
Hon. Simon Stiell
Minister, Ministry of Climate Resilience, The Environment, Forestry, Fisheries & Disaster Management, Grenada
Deputy Minister Patricia Abreu Fernández has graduated with high honors from the civil engineering career at the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC). She also holds a Masters degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the Utah State University in Logan, Utah, United States of America. She also participated in a Certificate Program in International Relations at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Since 2004 she has worked in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. First as Director of Environmental Standards and Research (2004-2008) and then as Deputy Minister for International Affairs and Cooperation (2008 to present).
From her beginnings in the institution, within the framework of the different roles that she has occupied, different achievements can be highlighted, among which are: coordination, planning and organization of the drafting, adoption, approval, formalization, publication and dissemination of environmental regulation instruments; alignment process of International Agencies towards the environmental policies; participation in negotiations of international agreements; fulfillment of the national commitments under international agreements, and free trade agreements; follow-up to programs and projects financed with international support.
Since 2004 she has worked in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. First as Director of Environmental Standards and Research (2004-2008) and then as Deputy Minister for International Affairs and Cooperation (2008 to present).
From her beginnings in the institution, within the framework of the different roles that she has occupied, different achievements can be highlighted, among which are: coordination, planning and organization of the drafting, adoption, approval, formalization, publication and dissemination of environmental regulation instruments; alignment process of International Agencies towards the environmental policies; participation in negotiations of international agreements; fulfillment of the national commitments under international agreements, and free trade agreements; follow-up to programs and projects financed with international support.
Hon. Patricia Abreu
Vice Minister, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic
Dr. Didacus Jules is the Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States since May 2014. He has extensive regional and international experience, most of it focused on education, social policy and organisational transformation. He served as Registrar and CEO of the Caribbean Examinations Council (2008-2014) leading a thorough modernization of the Council. He has also served as Vice President Human Resources Cable and Wireless St, Lucia (2005-2008); PS for Education & Human Resource Development St. Lucia (1997-2008) as well as Permanent Secretary for Education and Chief Education Officer in revolutionary Grenada from 1981-1983. He chaired the World Bank’s Vision 2020 Committee on Education in the Caribbean and has served on many boards. He holds a BA (Hons) from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill, an MSc in Curriculum & Instruction and a PhD in Educational Policy and Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as a MBA from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill.
H.E. Dr. Didacus Jules
Director General, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
Ms. Pamela Castillo Barahona is the Vice Minister of Environment of the Ministry of Environment and Energy of the Government of Costa Rica. She has a Master of Arts in Environmental Security and Peace, from the University for Peace.
She has extensive experience in developing relationships with governments, cooperation agencies, and donors; in design and implementation of public-private partnerships; resolution, conflict management and development of multisectoral dialogue platforms and in the implementation of innovative financial mechanisms for conservation and sustainable development.
She was Executive Director of the Tropical Scientific Center (CCT), Program Manager of the Forever Costa Rica Association and Environmental Consultant at CEDARENA (Center for Environmental Law and Natural Resources).For more than 18 years she has worked on issues of management, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Session: 2030 Biodiversity Framework and the Caribbean perspective for the next decade.
Hon. Pamela Castillo Barahona
Vice Minister, Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica
Dr. Jens Mackensen, Chairperson of the Board of Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, currently serves as Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean portfolio for the Department of Natural Resources at KfW Development Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. He particularly oversees topics such as forest protection, reforestation, sustainable forestry in natural forests, and agriculture, as well as the protection of climate, coasts, and biodiversity.
Over the course of his career, Jens’s work has taken him from leading the strategy and analysis of international climate and forest policies in Kenya with the United Nations Environmental Programme; to managing projects on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Indonesia and Laos; to climate adaptation in India, sustainable forestry in China and Vietnam, and energy, environment, and climate financing in Egypt. He also chairs the board of the Directors of the eco.business Fund and is a board member for the Georg-Ludwig-Hartig Foundation.
Dr. Mackensen received his doctorate in forestry from the University of Göttingen after research in Indonesia, Canada, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Australia.
Over the course of his career, Jens’s work has taken him from leading the strategy and analysis of international climate and forest policies in Kenya with the United Nations Environmental Programme; to managing projects on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in Indonesia and Laos; to climate adaptation in India, sustainable forestry in China and Vietnam, and energy, environment, and climate financing in Egypt. He also chairs the board of the Directors of the eco.business Fund and is a board member for the Georg-Ludwig-Hartig Foundation.
Dr. Mackensen received his doctorate in forestry from the University of Göttingen after research in Indonesia, Canada, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Australia.
Dr. Jens Mackensen
Board Chair, Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
Karolin Troubetzkoy is the Executive Director, Marketing and Operations of Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain Resorts in Soufriere, Saint Lucia. She is also the President of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA), serving for the second time. Mrs Troubetzkoy was able to gain support from the hotel sector to found the Saint Lucia Tourism Enhancement Fund and served as chairperson of this fund for several years. Mrs Troubetzkoy was a Director of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board and the Chairperson of the Tourist Board Marketing Committee for many years. Mrs. Troubetzkoy has been an active member of the marketing committees of the Saint Lucia Tourist Board for the past 20 years. Mrs Troubetzkoy was appointed President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) in 2016, for the term 2016-2018, she was only the second woman to serve as President in CHTA’s 50+ year history.
In Jan 2019, she was appointed Envoy to the Caribbean Challenge Initiative to bring awareness and build up resilience of the marine and coastal resources in the Caribbean.
She is the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Saint Lucia and is a citizen of Saint Lucia. On May 24, 2019 the Federal Republic of Germany bestowed on Karolin the Order of Merit to acknowledge her work as Honorary Consul and her volunteer leadership in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean to promote sustainable operations, building resilience and mitigating effects of climate change.
In Jan 2019, she was appointed Envoy to the Caribbean Challenge Initiative to bring awareness and build up resilience of the marine and coastal resources in the Caribbean.
She is the Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany in Saint Lucia and is a citizen of Saint Lucia. On May 24, 2019 the Federal Republic of Germany bestowed on Karolin the Order of Merit to acknowledge her work as Honorary Consul and her volunteer leadership in Saint Lucia and the Caribbean to promote sustainable operations, building resilience and mitigating effects of climate change.
Karolin Troubetzkoy
President, Saint Lucia Hospitality and Tourism Association
Dr Grethel Aguilar assumed office as Acting Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in June 2019.
Dr Aguilar brings with her more than 25 years of experience in conservation and sustainable development, having worked extensively on developing and applying environmental law and policy in collaboration with governments and civil society. In particular, she is deeply passionate about the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.
Through her work in field projects, Dr Aguilar has helped communities access clean water, advocated for environmental justice, assisted indigenous peoples in obtaining rights to their natural resources, and championed gender equality in environmental governance.
Dr. Grethel Aguilar
Acting Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature
VIEW ALL SPEAKERS
Partners
With the support of:
Agenda
This event is the perfect blend of learning and connecting with other leaders in the field. Morning sessions include featured panel discussions and afternoon sessions include interactive networking or a “field trip.”
Featured Sessions
Tuesday 07/14/2020
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are the CCI Goals?
The CCI has two main Goals:
- CCI 20-by-20 Goal: to conserve and effectively manage at least 20% of the marine and coastal environment by 2020.
- Sustainable Finance Goal: to put in place fully functioning finance mechanisms that provide long-term, reliable funding to ensure marine and coastal areas are sustainably managed into the future.
2. What is CCI?
About the Caribbean Challenge Initiative
The Caribbean Challenge Initiative was established as an innovative platform uniting governments, the private sector and partners (e.g. funding agencies, NGOs) to take collaborative action to conserve and sustainably manage the Caribbean’s marine and coastal environment. Originally launched in 2008 at the 8th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the CCI aimed to support and incentivize Caribbean governments to meet their sustainable development commitments, to catalyze new funding and accelerated action, and to help ensure more prosperous and sustainable economies across the Caribbean in the future.
At the CCI Summit of Political and Business Leaders held on May 2013 in the British Virgin Islands, a second phase of CCI was launched. At the Summit, a new type of partnership came together to safeguard the Caribbean’s marine and coastal environment. Three important “constituency groups”—governments, the private sector, and partners— all joined forces and voluntarily committed to supporting the two major goals under the CCI. New marine conservation commitments were made, primarily in the form of a Leaders Declaration signed by nine governments and a Corporate Compact signed by 15 companies at the Summit. Over US $75M of funding for activities to support CCI Goals were also announced on the occasion. In short, the launch of Phase II of the CCI generated significant momentum towards the shared vision of a healthy marine and coastal environment.
3. Who is CBF?
About the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund
Established in 2012, the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) is the realization of a bold vision to create reliable, long-term funding for conservation and sustainable development in the Caribbean region. The CBF and a group of National Conservation Trust Fund form the Caribbean Sustainable Finance Architecture, which, among other objectives, supports and incentivizes targeted Caribbean nations to meet the goals of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI), national conservation priorities, and targets under other international and regional commitments.
The CBF is an umbrella fund with a flexible structure to implement innovative solutions for resource mobilization at the regional level through a range of financial instruments. Currently, the CBF manages approximately US$125 million through its Conservation Finance and the Climate Change: Ecosystem-based Adaptation Programs.
4. Will there be translation for CCI-CBF Week 2020?
Panels will be held in English and translated both from English to Spanish and from English to French. There will be no translation into English. Breakout sessions will not be translated.
5. How do I join CCI-CBF Week 2020?
Simply click “Register Now”, enter your details, and check your email for your official ticket with instructions on joining the event.
6. How can I contact the hosts with questions?
Please use the contact form below or email us directly on: ccicbfweek@caribbeanbiodiversityfund.org
