In December, climate change experts from all over the world will gather in Madrid for the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25), under the Presidency of Chile. One of the priority topics of COP25 is the nexus of climate and coastal zones. In case you are wondering why we need to talk about coasts at such a high-level event, the answer is simple: coastal … [Read more...] about Too Big to Fail? Why Preserving Our Coasts Is Increasingly Relevant in a Changing Climate.
Khafi Weekes Weekes
Khafi Weekes works at the Environment, Rural Development, and Disaster Risk Management Division of the Inter-American Development Bank specializing in risk-resilient coastal zone and watershed management. Over the past three and a half years at the Bank she has been providing design, technical guidance and quality assurance for investments aimed at mainstreaming ICZM, IWRM, coastal risk resilience and leveraging coastal biodiversity for sustainable infrastructure, tourism and other blue economic activities in 13+ countries in the Latin America and Caribbean region. Another major element of her work has involved leading initiatives that build local technical capacities to effectively address climate risks ranging from hosting in-country workshops to the design of university level courses, the most recent of which being a university seminar for the University of Belize entitled ‘Climate Change Adaptation Planning for the Coastal Zone’. She was recently appointed to the Bank wide Sargassum Task Force identifying linkages between watershed activities and sargassum blooms in the Caribbean Basin. In tandem with her work at the IDB, Khafi is completing a PhD specializing in international water policy and groundwater sustainability in transboundary basins at McMaster University, Canada. Prior to joining the IDB, Khafi founded and directed the Coastal Protection Unit, and before that, was the Technical Advisor on Drainage Management to the Minister of Works of Trinidad and Tobago.
Innovation in Blue Economic Development and Coastal Risk Management in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Spanning over three decades, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been at the forefront of policy development and public-sector investments fostering blue economic development and risk-resilient coastal zones in the Wider Caribbean Region. Using the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) framework, and more recently incorporating ecosystem-based considerations, the … [Read more...] about Innovation in Blue Economic Development and Coastal Risk Management in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Why the Guarani Aquifer Agreement is the Sustainable Groundwater Policy Innovation We Need
Groundwater accounts for one third of the world’s unfrozen, fresh water resources, providing 50% of drinking water and the main source of water for major industries, particularly irrigation (UN-IGRAC 2019). For each of the past 50 years, the global demand for groundwater has doubled, leading to one third of international basins currently experiencing groundwater storage … [Read more...] about Why the Guarani Aquifer Agreement is the Sustainable Groundwater Policy Innovation We Need