Climate Change in the Caribbean 2015: Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands The Inter American University of Puerto Rico, School of Law November 17-18, 2015 Tuesday, November 17, 2015 8:00am 9:00am 9:00am 9:45am Registration Welcome and Opening Protocol Conference Co-Chair Hector Vélez, US Environmental Protection Agency Speaker from Inter American Governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro García Padilla (confirmed) Governor of United States Virgin Islands, Kenneth Mapp (confirmed) NOAA Office for Coastal Management Southeast & Caribbean Lead Russell Callender (invited) EPA Region 2 Administrator Judith Enck (confirmed) DOI Office of Insular Affairs Esther Kai aina (confirmed) USDA Forest Service, Dr. William Gould (confirmed) 9:45am 10:30am Session 1.2 Plenary Keynote Address: Our Caribbean Climate Challenge Chair: David Brown, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Dr. Ulrich Trotz, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Belize 10:30am 11:00am Networking Break 11:00am 12:30pm Session 1.3 Concurrent Sessions The Climate Challenge by Societal Sector Chairs: Ruperto Chaparro & Lillian Ramirez, PR Sea Grant College Program Public Health (Room A) Moderator: Berliz Morales, Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program Pablo A. Méndez Lázaro, PhD. Graduate Program Coordinator for Environmental Health with the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus Sandra Carpio, PhD. UPR Graduate School of Public Health
Carlos Carazo, MD. Puerto Rico Department of Health. Built Environment (Room B) Moderator: Ernesto Díaz, Director Coastal Zone Management Program-DNER and Puerto Rico Climate Change Council Coordinator Andrea Bauzá, Architect. Sustainability in Culebra. Arturo Massol, PhD., Energy Sustainability from the Perspective of an NGO, Casa Pueblo Agustín Irizarry, PhD. Energy Sustainability Aurelio Mercado, MS Physical Oceanography Water Resources and Drought (Room C) Moderator: Lillian Ramirez, Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program Edwin Almodóvar, Director Natural Resources Conservation Service Caribbean Area. Vulnerability in Agriculture. Myrna Comas, PhD. Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture. Vulnerability in Food Security. Israel Matos, Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency. Vulnerability and Drought. Ecosystems and Climate Vulnerability (Room D) Moderator: Héctor Martínez, Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program Elvira Cuevas, PhD. Director of the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC) Rafael Méndez Tejeda, PhD. Research Lab. of Atmospheric Sciences, UPR- Carolina Edwin Hernández, PhD. CATEC Research Fellow 12:30pm 1:30pm Lunch on your own 1:30pm 2:15pm Session 1.4 Plenary Chair: José C. Font, Director, EPA Region2 Caribbean Environmental Protection Division Speech by Judith A. Enck, Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 Climate Change in the Caribbean and Beyond: A Call to Action
2:15pm 2:45pm Networking Break 2:45pm 4:15pm Session 1.5 Concurrent Sessions Responding to climate variability and change - what s been working in climate mitigation and adaptation Public Health (Room A) Chair: LaVerne E. Ragster, PhD, President Emerita, University of the Virgin Islands Esther M. Ellis, PhD, Territorial Epidemiologist, V.I. Department of Health, Plans for addressing health challenges in the Virgin Islands under global warming conditions. Louis E. Petersen, Jr., PhD, Former Commissioner of VI Agriculture and Currently Assistant Director of Cooperative Extension Services, University of the Virgin Islands, Strategies to address food security and agriculture in the Virgin Islands under climate variability conditions. Noreen Michael, PhD, Director of Research, Caribbean Research Exploratory Center, University of the Virgin Islands, Health disparities research and policy as part of climate change adaptation in the Virgin Islands. Tourism (Room B) Chairs: UMET School of Environmental Affairs and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company Prof. Luz LaFontaine, Universidad del Este, Challenges for the development of ecotourism and sustainable tourism in Puerto Rico to climate change Carlos Padin, PhD and Prof. Carlos Morales, UMET School of Environmental Affairs, Open spaces and protected areas as strategies for sustainable tourism and adaptation of climate change Lisa Hamilton, USVI Hotel and Tourism Association (to be invited) Fernando Abruña, Architect with hoteliers Zulma Rivera (Turtle Bay Inn) and Eddie Ramírez Castellano (Casa Sol), Puerto Rico Tourism Company s Sustainability Guides Food Security (Fisheries and Agriculture) (Room C) Chair: Jorge F. Bauzá-Ortega, PhD; QEP, San Juan Bay Estuary Program Isabel K. Parés-Ramos, Coordinator, USDA Caribbean Climate Sub Hub Erecia Hepburn, PhD. College of the Bahamas Vance Vicente, Independent Consultant Representative of Caribbean Fisheries Management Council
Ecosystems and Climate Vulnerability (Room D) Chair: Soledad Gaztambide-Arandes, Para la Naturaleza Estrella Santiago & Carlos Muñíz, Proyecto ENLACE del Caño Martin Peña, Community Resilience: development of infrastructure projects and environmental rehabilitation through empowerment and community participation Britt Parker, NOAA, Blue Carbon Initiatives Gerard McMahon, Southeast Climate Science Center, Initiatives to support climate resilience Elvia Meléndez (SJ ULTRA / UPR) & Soledad Gaztambide (Para la Naturaleza): Collaborative effort for integrated watershed management in the Río Piedras Watershed 4:15pm 4:30pm Short Break to Return to Auditorium 4:30pm 5:00pm Session 1.6 Plenary Keynote: Where are we and Where are we going? Lloyd Gardner, Foundation for Development Planning, Inc., United States Virgin Islands Wednesday, November 18, 2015 8:00am 8:45am Registration 8:45am 9:00am Welcome to Day Two! Ada Monzón, President of the EcoExploratorio Science Museum of Puerto Rico and former Chief Meteorologist of Univisión P.R. (WLII-TV)
9:00am 10:30am Session 2.1 Plenary Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Chair: Jean-Pierre L. Oriol, VI Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Division of Coastal Zone Management Director Ernesto L. Díaz, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Coastal Zone Management Program - The Puerto Rico Climate Change Council Patrick Parenteau, Vermont Law School - The Scientific, Legal and Moral Imperative for the Clean Power Plan Omar Ramirez, Climate Change Commission of the Dominican Republic 10:30 am to 12:00 pm Session 2.2 Concurrent Sessions What else can be done in the Caribbean? Analyzing Preparedness of the Energy Sector to Climate Change Chairs: David Ortiz, Isabel Rivera, El Puente Enlace Latino de Acción Climática Panelists: Elmo Roebuck, Jr. Director of the VI Energy Office Hugo Hodge, Jr. Executive Director of the VI Water and Power Authority Javier Quintana, Director of the Puerto Rico Energy and Power Authority Ruth Santiago, Independent Consultant Stephen Wall, Department of Energy Risk Management: Disaster Response and Hazard Mitigation Chair: Amanda Leinberger and Vanessa Marrero, Puerto Rico Coastal Zone Management Program Moderator: Antares Ramos, PhD, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Panelists: Mona Barnes, VI Emergency Management Agency Alejandro de la Campa, Federal Emergency Management Agency Israel Matos, Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency John Filipelli, EPA Region 2 Director of Clean Air and Sustainability Division Bill O Beirne, NOAA, Risk Communications Training Program 12:00pm 1:00pm Lunch on your own
1:00pm 2:00pm Session 2.3 Plenary Keynote Panel: What Can We Learn from Others? Chair: Felix Aponte-González, PhD., Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Jean Yves Lacascade, CARICOM Regional Council of Martinique, Director for European Affairs and Cooperation Shawn-Michael Malone, Federal Affairs Coordinator, Office of the Governor of the Virgin Islands of the United States Ernesto L. Díaz, Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Coastal Zone Management Program 2:00pm 2:30pm Networking Break 2:30pm 3:45pm Session 2.4 Concurrent Sessions Energy: PR and USVI Making the Transition to a Regulated Electricity Market (Room A) Chair: Agustín Carbó, Chairman of the Puerto Rico Energy Commission Panelists: José Maeso, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Energy Affairs Administration Janine Migden-Ostrander, Principal of the Regulatory Assistance Project Johann Clendenin, Chairman of the VI Public Service Commission Community Resilience (Room B) Chair: Isabel C. Rivera-Collazo, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Puerto Rico Presentations: Isabel C. Rivera-Collazo, PhD., UPR-RP, Anthropological perspectives on sustainability, adaptation and community resilience Christine Ash, EPA Environmental Justice Coordinator, Climate Justice and Vulnerability in PR and USVI Katia Avilés, San Juan Bay Estuary Program, Measures to adapt to floods: lessons for climate change Ada R. Miranda Alvarado, Acción Didáctica-Ambiental: Why we are all important Marita González Cintrón, Creando Consciencia Mi Tierra Grita, The Self- Esteem in Ecology Hope Herron, Tetra Tech Inc., Planning for Resilient Communities: Approaches and Lessons Learned for the Caribbean
Corals and Climate Change (Room C) Chair: Bill O Beirne, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Edwin Hernández, PhD, Effects of Climate Change of Corals (title to come) Sean Griffin, PhD, Current and Next Steps in Corals Restoration to consider Climate Change Britt Parker, NOAA, Corals and Climate Adaptation Planning (CCAP) Project: Climate Smart Conservation in Action Antares Ramos, PhD, Ridge to Reef Approach Nature-based Solutions Part II (Workshop) (Room D) Chair: Soledad Gaztambide-Arandes, Para la Naturaleza Lloyd Gardner, Foundation for Development Planning, Inc, Overview of the concept and application of nature-based solutions Nicole Leotaud, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI), Trinidad Participatory Approaches to Community and Ecosystem-Based Adaptation in the Caribbean: A facilitated session to present case studies, share experiences, and develop mini-strategies to implement participatory vulnerability assessments and local adaptation planning and action. 3:45pm 4:45pm Session 2.5 Plenary Keynote: Summary and Call to Action Maria Falcón, GeoAmbiente del Caribe Ruperto Chaparro, Puerto Rico Sea Grant College Program 4:45pm 5:00pm Closing Ceremonies For more conference information, visit: http://caribbeanlcc.org/climate-change-in-the-caribbean-2015-puerto-rico-the-u-s-virgin-islands/