Regional stakeholders convene ahead of hurricane season

On Monday, more than 500 delegates from over 20 Caribbean countries will gather at the Barbados Museum and Historical Society to launch a week-long conference aimed at tackling climate and disaster risks across the region.

The Understanding Risk (UR) Caribbean conference will be hosted by the World Bank, in partnership with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the European Union (EU) and the Government of Barbados.

During the conference, three regional programmes in planning for long-term resilience and climate-smart growth strategies will be launched. These will include the Caribbean Regional Resilience Building Facility and the Technical Assistance Programme for Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance in Caribbean Overseas Countries and Territories financed by the European Union, as well as the Canada Caribbean Resilience Facility financed by the Government of Canada.

The conference will bring together disaster risk management experts, governments, urban planners, insurance industry stakeholders, private sector organisations, academia, multilateral development banks, and other regional partners to collectively address and reduce disaster risk.

It involves sessions and workshops from the University of the West Indies, Harvard University, NASA, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley is scheduled to give the keynote address at the conference’s opening ceremony. (PR)