Accountability in Climate change governance and Caribbean SIDS

Abstract

Accountability is part of the good governance of institutions and regimes. The subject of this paper is nature of accountability in the climate change governance relationships. Context matters for understanding related governance dynamics and this paper presents the findings of research on accountability in climate governance in Caribbean SIDS over the last 18 years. It identified the Caribbean climate governance agents at the regional and local scales. It created an accountability framework that examined two levels (internal/external accountability); four accountability relationships (normative, relational, decision and behavioural) and four accountability mechanisms or processes: certification, monitoring, participation by stakeholders in the overseeing of projects and self-reporting. It analysed how far accountability was appreciated and applied within institutions and in relationships between regional institutions, international partners, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to manage climate change adaptation and mitigation. The study found that accountability was valued as a good governance principle but the mechanisms to operationalise accountability were lacking in practice. The absence of structured processes was attributed to the economic and governance contexts of these SIDS. Governance actors had limited resources for governance safeguards. The study recommends processes to strengthen the “culture of governance” within the Caribbean as a whole and specifically within state agencies and civil society.