Salutations 

•    Minister of State, Office of the Prime Minister, Hon Leon Lundy 
•    His Worship, the Mayor of Kingston, Councilor Andrew Swaby
•    Director General, (Acting), Jamaica’s Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Richard Thompson and his senior management team.
•    Alex Storr, Chairman, Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA), The Bahamas
•    Aarone Sargent, Managing Director (Acting) Disaster Reconstruction Authority (DRA) and his senior management team
•    Danielle Coleman, Director of Hazard Management, Cayman Islands
•    Brian Been, Policy, Planning and Programme Manager, Ministry of Tourism, Environment, Fisheries and Marine Affairs, Culture and Heritage, Agriculture and Religious Affairs, Turks and Caicos Islands
•    Representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and academic institutions on location at UNDP and online
•    Members of the media
•    Other distinguished ladies and gentlemen

Good morning and welcome to part two of UNDP’s Resilient Series, where we explore lessons and best practices to build a more resilient future. 

This is a timely juncture to reflect on our journey to resilience, starting with the policy and governance arrangements that future proof our lives in this crisis-prone region to the need for community level empowerment, resilient livelihoods, buildings and infrastructure.

In exactly 15 days, the Caribbean region will mark the start of the 2024 hurricane season. Weather analysts predict the upcoming season is likely to be one of the most active on record, with 25 named storms and 12 hurricanes expected to pass through.  Last year 2023 as we know was the hottest year globally since records began in the 1800s, and in fact according to many studies was the warmest year in 2000 years. The impacts are already being seen. Disaster displacement is now at levels much larger than conflict induced displacements globally, with 100s of millions of people expected to be displaced by climate induced disasters in coming decades. 

This is particularly relevant for the Caribbean, already seven times more likely to be hit by natural disasters and sustain damage to GDP six times higher larger nations, and this is expected to get worse in coming years with more frequent and severe climate induced disaster, unless urgent action is taken. 

To this end, UNDP has partnered with countries around the world over the past decades to manage risk and build resilience. UNDP stands as the UN’s largest implementer of grant assistance for climate change and the environment, with over $4 billion of programming in over 140 countries and territories today. 

Today we stand in solidarity with our country partners, local officials and communities across the Caribbean, to enhance policies and institutions that can manage increasing levels of complexity and put in place risk informed development policies and plans. To scale up local results, UNDP also supports innovation in technology, through scaled up early warning systems and digitization, as well as innovation in finance through design of green bonds, climate risk insurance and other instruments. The third pillar of our programming on climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction is on community empowerment, building local resilience through preparadeness and early recovery systems.

Today’s Resilience Series event is a coming together of expert minds reflects UNDP’s firm belief that solutions to the challenges faced by the region and the world are to be unearthed within Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) on the frontlines of Climate Change – a central topic for the upcoming SIDS conference where UNDP will be convening strategic dialogues on the matter. The commendable work done by The Bahamas, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bermuda, and Cayman Islands which have all faced devastating hurricanes, deserves to be highlighted, analysed, and shared.

UNDP is committed to scaling up our programming on Climate change adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and early recovery in our partner countries and territories in the Caribbean, strengthened capacities to prevent, mitigate and prepare for disasters.

The construction of a model hurricane resilient community shelter on Abaco with funding from the Government of India is a prime example of resilient infrastructure that saves lives and investments. UNDP, with financing from the Government and India and the leadership of the Government of The Bahamas, is building the centre to code to withstand strong storm systems. I am looking forward to progress reports and information on its resilient features in this live session. 

Globally, UNDP offers a number of assessment tools and methodologies including a Housing and Building Damage Assessment tool, which we will learn more about today, to scope resilient construction and build back better policies. Our partner nations also have access to our global knowledge network with every know DRR skillset to support national crisis resilience agendas.  

Under our previous country programme, UNDP supported strengthening of policy frameworks for a disaster resilient future in TCI and The Bahamas following two category five hurricanes. We supported MSMEs build more resilient businesses through training and micro grants and supported emergency cash for work programmes to clean up debris. We are particularly proud of the bold policy environment spearheaded by Turks and Caicos and Bahamas with UNDP support which is entrenching provisions for crisis planning and response.       

As we near the 50th anniversary of UNDPs presence and programming in this part of the Caribbean, we pledge to deepen our support for resilient interventions that shore up national capacities to mitigate climate shocks. 

I thank you all for joining us today, wish you and successful dialogue, and we stand with you in following up from dialogue to action through new and scaled up cooperation in the region.

Thank you