The Center for Hemispherical Cooperation in Research and Education in Engineering and Applied Science (CoHemis) of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) is a main partner of the Coastal Area Climate Change Education (CACCE) Partnership. CACCE is one of fifteen projects funded in 2010 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of their Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) program. It is led by The University of South Florida (USF) and other main partners are the Florida Aquarium in Tampa, the Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), and the University of Virgin Islands (UVI). During Phase I CACCE is working with its partners to do the following in preparation for a long-term Phase II proposal:
- Define the current state of awareness, perceptions and literacy about the impacts of climate change.
- Identify issues with “traction” and information needs through surveys, panel discussions and workshops.
- Develop a comprehensive educational plan specific to the coastal areas of Florida and the Caribbean to improve climate change literacy, and competency in managing its impacts.
As part of these efforts we organized this CACCE Conference-Workshop on Impacts of Climate Change in the Caribbean Countries. This workshop was held during February 1-3 of 2012 in Mayaguez, a beautiful city in Western Puerto Rico. We provide in this web page all important information about this activity.
General Organization
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This CACCE Conference-Workshop lasted three days and took place in the Mayagüez Holiday Inn Hotel, Puerto Rico. Two days were dedicated to the presentation of papers on relevant topics related to climate change in the Caribbean region. The talks focused on the current knowledge and educational efforts on the impacts of climate change in the Caribbean countries. There were 21 presentations of 30 minutes each plus 10 minutes for questions and discussion. The third day included small working groups for identifying needs and opportunities for education and research work and collaborative projects of interest.
The selection of participants seeked to ensure that relevant topics were appropriately covered in the conference and that different countries of the Caribbean were represented. They were Barbados, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, and United States. People from other islands were also invited but they were unable to attend. The official languages of the CACCE Conference-Workshop were English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation provided for the presentations.
Proceedings in digital version will be prepared in English and Spanish. These will include the extended abstracts of the presentations, a summary of relevant discussions, and the conclusions and recommendations regarding future priorities and possible joint activities with CACCE. These proceedings will be distributed to conference attendees and other interested parties by email. Another outreach efforts include this web page with everything related with the activity, including the videos of all presentations and powerpoint presentations, among others.
Click here to see the news and video prepared by the Press Office of UPRM (in Spanish)
