Letter from the Novara

That was at the end of February and just another adventure on the high seas for us on Novara. After two years, we have many more to tell. We've sailed 12,000 nautical miles since I left the EBRD, landed in 19 countries and worked with 15 coastal communities on coastal climate adaptation. We're now in Fort Lauderdale, preparing Novara for the passage north to the Arctic and Novara's second North West Passage transit.

Our time on Providencia is still a highlight of the past few months. Thanks to a local friend we were quickly introduced to local people. We learned of the incredible resilience of the community following hurricane lota in November 2020, when 98 per cent of the island was destroyed. The bounce-back took a huge effort, and the experience is still very raw for many. We also learned about the challenges people are facing now – how to organise themselves for future extreme events (fires, storms, hurricanes) and how to access the money and resources they need.

On the community organisation, my wife Veronica used her skills to facilitate a series of workshops with Providencia's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT50).
On the funding side, I am using some skills learned at the EBRD. A constant issue with coastal communities is access to finance. And at the Bank, we know that there's a lot of concessional finance available that most local communities have no idea how to access.
After discussion with the local Association of Crab Hunters (AsoCrab) we worked with them to prepare a funding proposal to Fi Wi Riif.

They desperately need resources to rebuild a kitchen facility for selling crab meat to tourists – a staple source of income. They also need funding for crab population monitoring. It seems they have been shortlisted for funding, so fingers crossed.
We also worked with the Fish&Farm cooperative. These fishers lost their large fishing launches in the hurricane, and now venture offshore in their small boats, risking their lives every time they head to fishing grounds 70 miles away. We're helping them to connect to banks with concessional lending opportunities. We’ve had no luck so far, but if anyone reading this knows of potential sources of finance in Latin America, please let me know. They tick all the boxes.

Leaving Providencia was hard. And it highlighted that farewells are a big part of our lives on board Novara. We meet so many amazing people and hear incredible stories. And then we move on. But, as is the case with this adventure, we lean in. We feel the fear, we lift our eyes to the horizon and we go on our way. And in doing so, we discover something new about ourselves every day.

Contact Nigel on n.jollands@gmail.com