The small country of Dominica signed a deal with the World Bank in order to tackle climate change and prevent natural disasters in the Caribbean country
ROSEAU — Dominica is a small island located approximately 750 kilometres in the East of the Caribbean region. During its existence, the island has been in constant danger of natural hazards such as tropical storms and hurricanes. In 1995, the island was damaged by one of the biggest hurricanes in the region, Hurricane Lenny.
$28 million are going to be used to prevent and help the region in case of a natural disaster. Alessandro Legrottaglie, World Bank official, and Dominican Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit signed an agreement this Tuesday to control climate change.
During the meeting, Legrottaglie stated, “ Disasters have a negative impact on the livelihood [—] they destroy houses, infrastructure and more important they undermine the capacity of the government to deliver basic services to the most vulnerable segments of the population, which usually live in the most remote and disposed areas of the country.”
The agreement also covers the funding of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR).
The Dominica Government announced that this investment would help the island to reduce its vulnerability against natural hazards such as tropical storms, cyclones and other massive weather phenomena that has affected the Caribbean region in the past.
The project will allow more infrastructure and technology to be built in the island focused on climate change and weather disaster.
The Caribbean countries have suffered during the last decade of multiple natural disasters — most of them attributed to the current climate change in our planet. Tragedies such as the Caribbean Floods in May 2004 caused several damage in places such as the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The region is also located in the route of formation of hurricanes in what is called The Atlantic Hurricane Season.
Most of the region relies on bigger nations such as the U.S.A, Mexico and Jamaica, to produce meteorological forecast in order to prevent and warn the population of incoming natural phenomena. This investment and agreement with the World Bank is one of the first in the region and it has raised some questions regarding the use of government resources in order to prevent natural disaster in other countries of the Caribbean.
— Alejandro Faini, Editor (North America)
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