Agriculture in Haiti: Highly Vulnerable, Mostly Uninsured

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Thirty-two countries* will participate in a full-scale tsunami alert exercise in the Caribbean on 20 March 2013. The goal is to test the reaction capacity in countries of the Caribbean and adjacent regions, including the East Coast of Canada and the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and Bermuda. The exercise was organized under the auspices of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).

INTRODUCTION

This report, for the period 1 June – 30 November 2012, is the first semiannual report, covering the first six months in the 2012/2013 fiscal and policy year for CCRIF. It is designed to provide an update on progress during this period towards achievement of CCRIF’s Strategic Objectives (see Figure 1) as defined in the CCRIF Strategic Plan 2012/2013 – 2014/2015. In providing this progress update, this report also illustrates how the Facility upholds its customer values.

The report presents:

By Desmond Brown

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, Jan 13 2013 (IPS) - A new initiative is catching on in the Caribbean that aims to increase and sustain agricultural productivity by incorporating information about weather and climate into the farming process, all under the umbrella of climate-smart agriculture.

Vienna, Austria, December 12, 2012. The Governing Board of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), meeting in its 141st Session, has approved 22 loans and grants totaling nearly US$300 million to boost socio-economic development in 23 partner countries. The bulk of the public sector loans will co-finance projects aimed at enhancing the transportation and energy sectors of the recipient countries, as well as the agriculture, education and health sectors.

Thursday, November 22, 2012 11:16 AM - St. George's, Grenada

St George’s, Grenada, 22 November, 2012: A two member delegation from the German International Cooperation (GIZ), the implementing agency of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany met with Ministry of Environment officials this week to finalise plans for the implementation of climate change adaptation project for Grenada which will begin in 2013 for a period of four (4) years.

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, November 9, 2012 – The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of The University of the West Indies have entered into a partnership to enhance the Accelerometric Network in the Eastern Caribbean and Jamaica in order to strengthen the evaluation and mitigation of seismic risk across the region.

Government of BVI (GIS), BVI, October 29th, 2012 - The Department of Disaster Management (DDM) in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Coordinating Unit, with financial support from the Enhancing Resilience to Reduce Vulnerability in the Caribbean Region (ERC) Project is hosting a stakeholders meeting to discuss the data needs for the DEWETRA Platform and how it can be used within the Caribbean context.

Effective disaster management not only reduces rebuilding cost and ensures the continued operation of Caribbean countries in the event of disaster, but enhances the quality of life for our citizens.

Disaster management planning is therefore A critical investment for all Caribbean communities. This was strongly emphasized by Ms Velda Octave-Joseph, CDEMA’s Community Disaster Management Specialist who provides support to Participating States to strengthen disaster resilience at the community level.