A high-level interactive conference event which blended focus on green infrastructure projects and technologies available to us now here in the Caribbean, along with a second-part focus on various green financing mechanisms and approaches which can support greater implementation and scaling up of the same.

The Caribbean Green Infrastructure Conference was the first of its kind conference focused on Green Infrastructure in Trinidad and Tobago which was led and hosted by IAMovement in partnership with the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited. This 2-day hybrid regional conference took place on the 25th and 26th of October 2022 at Hilton Trinidad with the theme “The Vetiver System (VS) Case Study – Investing to Scale”. The conference was also supported by key platinum sponsors such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Republic Bank Limited (RBL). The conference was well attended with over 200+ attendees participating in person and 300+ persons joining online, which included stakeholders from civil society, academia, government and private institutions from over 20+ Caribbean islands.

The conference had two (2) main focus areas, namely: (i) Green Infrastructure Projects and (ii) Green Finance mechanisms to support the same. A special focus was given to the Vetiver System (VS) as a case study, given the amount of work done using this particular green infrastructure tool through different projects in T&T, regionally and globally – and where this was recognized to be a useful way to help introduce and grow the conversation on green infrastructure in the Caribbean space, given the often-high, direct economic savings through using this tool within traditional infrastructure projects such as roads, homes, riverbanks, coastlines and drainage systems.

In addition, where the term ‘Green Infrastructure’ covers far more than what many people quickly think of when they hear about ‘infrastructure’, different Vetiver System (VS) applications were also shared and discussed highlighting its uses for reforestation, watershed regeneration, coral-reef protection, etc; where, green infrastructure indeed refers to the wide arrange of ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ projects and initiatives which can be applied within human-dominant and human-relating landscapes to aid with their overall security, stability and abilities to regenerate.

The inaugural Caribbean Green Infrastructure Conference (CGIC) hosted by IAMovement entailed:

• 12+ sessions
• 500+ persons joining through in-person and online participation
• 15+ media news stories
• 20+ countries
• 50+ organizational partners

Feedback received from partners, key stakeholders and participants about the conference both during and after the event suggested that it was a great success, with a common message being that “we haven’t seen or had something like this before”. Specifically, these comments and the general sentiment around this was that “although there are many conference and events which talk about potential solutions and approaches in the field of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and green infrastructure, there has been a lack of fora which concretely present multiple examples of successful projects and business approaches which are sustainable and can be easily scaled and replicated, alongside an exploration of finance and funding mechanisms which are available right now to support same”.

Where this was very much the goal of the inaugural Caribbean Green Infrastructure Conference (CGIC) 2022, IAMovement has recognized this need now more greatly, and has positioned itself to host future editions of this conference with an expanding focus on the different types of green infrastructure technologies, projects and approaches available to us now in the Caribbean; along with ongoing identification and exploration of green financing mechanisms, approaches and facilities which can support their more rapid uptake and widespread implementation.

The Caribbean Green Infrastructure Conference (CGIC) 2022 event can be explored in greater detail here.