The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General says the future of Caribbean development must be risk-informed and planned with multiple concurrent and cascading hazards in mind.
“This work is a priority for all our member states,” Dr. Carla Barnett asserted.
“This is what we live with. Haiti and St. Vincent and the Grenadines can testify to the complexities of managing – as they did last year – COVID-19, hurricane season and major geological disasters at the same time,” the Secretary-General said.
Barnett spoke on Monday during a conversation on early warning systems on the sidelines of COP 27 underway in Egypt.
She recalled six CARICOM Member States had experienced the major impact of late-season weather events within the past two weeks.
And Barnett told the forum that those states could testify to the urgency of being better able to predict and prepare for extreme weather events, adequately finance recovery, and rebuild with resilience.
She stressed the urgency for the Region to build resilience in all facets of its development and the support necessary to do so and tackle climate change.
She observed that the CARICOM region is both seismically active and is subject to increasing frequency and intensity of weather events brought on by climate change.
As a result, she noted an urgent need for accurate and timely information for informing, forecasting, early warning, and loss and damage projections.
Headline photo: Dr. Carla Barnett (Stock image)
Risk is everywhere especially when dealing with the bank on Bridge Streer facing the Boulevard…card theft is on the rise and the banks can’t even be bothered to assist making easier for the criminals to get away with their crimes because they frustrate you very step of the way. You are treated more like a criminal than a victim. People, use credit unions or put your money under the bed like long ago because putting it in the bank is just as risky as keeping it at home. I’m fed up.