Onward to Ottawa
Jamaican Orville Grey is new head of NAP Global Network
Published:Thursday | May 18, 2023 | 12:42 AM
FIVE YEARS after waving goodbye to Jamaica’s Climate Change Division, Dr Orville Grey has paved a path to the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Global Network in Canada, where he looks to amplify his contribution to global efforts to combat the climate crisis.
Grey is the new head of Secretariat for the Network, which is hosted by the Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). He started work with the entity last month.
In his new role, Grey said he leads “a multidisciplinary team of adaptation experts based around the world, working to expand the network’s reach, respond to the needs of country partners, and be a leading voice for adaptation planning in global policy processes”.
He is no stranger to this kind of work.
The holder of a PhD in environmental biology, Grey was senior technical officer for adaptation in the Climate Change Division. After four and a half years in that role – years during which he distinguished himself as an outstanding climate negotiator, batting on a global field of play – he transitioned to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which he most recently served as regional manager for the Caribbean.
The GCF is the world’s largest climate fund, mandated to support developing countries raise and realise their contributions to a low-emissions, climate-resilient future.
EXPERIENCE
At the time of leaving Jamaica for South Korea in 2018, Grey said of the opportunity to serve the GCF: “The expertise and experience to be gained at that level – understanding the country, the people, the way they do things, how similar and/or how different we are in trying to achieve the same purpose, being able to help move these things from paper to funding and actual implementation – is something I have been interested in.”
“So it is just being able to do a lot of what I have been doing here [Jamaica’s CCD], using a greater platform to reach more small-island developing states across the world and developing countries in general,” Grey told The Gleaner at the time.
He is continuing on that road at the NAP Global Network, where the focus is on accelerating adaptation planning and action in the Global South.
Adaptation, which is about adjustments made in ecological, social or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects, is essential for small island developing states, including Jamaica, who contribute little to greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change, but who stand to be worse affected by the impacts.
From increasing global temperatures to extreme hurricanes and droughts, these impacts also include livelihood loss, compromised water resources and food, as well as impaired public health.
The NAP Global Network, meanwhile, was set up in 2014 to provide technical support while facilitating South – South peer learning and exchange, and mobilising knowledge on the “formulation and implementation of NAPs”.
In an article published on the NAP Global Network website, Anne Hammill, associate vice president of resilience with the IISD, welcomed Grey to the Network, while providing insight into the expectations for his performance.
“With his extensive experience as an advocate, implementer, and funder of adaptation planning, we look forward to Orville leading the NAP Global Network into a new era of innovative and meaningful support that will increase climate change adaptation efforts in the Global South,” she said.