Under the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and United Nations Department on Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), efforts are being made to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data to enhance climate action in the Caribbean. Through the "Evidence-based Climate Action through Artificial Intelligence and Data Innovation for Caribbean SIDS" project, Barbados' ability to monitor and analyze maritime transport, trade, fisheries, and their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will be improved through building the skills of government agencies in data science, econometrics, and data wrangling, enabling them to better utilize data from sources like Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and national fishing vessel registers.
This effort took shape in the form of a two-day workshop during the 4th-5th of December, held at the United Nations House. Key agencies which attended the workshop included those within the Ministry of Environment and National Beautification, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Ministry of Tourism and International Transport, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutritional Security, and national-level bodies such as Export Barbados, Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organizations (BARNUFO), The Black Fin Fleet and the University of the West Indies among others.
Ms. Janelle Scantlebury-Mounsey of the Barbados Statistical Service (left), Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox, Chief Fisheries Officer (middle), and Patrice Quesada, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean i.A. (right) as they gave their opening remarks for the workshop on the 4th of December.
The workshop was the first step towards ensuring enhanced data availability and stronger linkages and data-sharing between agencies in order to tackle the reduction of GHG emissions from ocean-based economic activities, in particular maritime transport and fishery, and the protection and restoration of coastal ecosystems. As a result, a task force consisting of representatives from the various agencies was created to work on the compilation of the data required to achieve such goals.