A total of 189 world leaders met during the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 and adopted the UN Millennium Declaration (A/RES/55/2). Under “Protecting our common environment” the declaration "adopt in all our environmental action a new ethic of conservation and stewardship and, as first steps, resolves...to intensify cooperation to reduce the number and effects of natural and man-made disasters” (International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction).

 

 

Local Initiatives         

The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management

 

With rapid economic growth and urbanization in Trinidad and Tobago, the need for a coordinated approach to Crisis Prevention, Recovery and Risk Reduction is vital. UNDP has provided ongoing policy advice and support to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM).

 

Traditionally, the focus of the main actors’ attention in disaster management in Trinidad and Tobago has been disaster response and reconstruction with little attention given to preventative measures.  However, with the increase in natural and man-made disasters in recent years,  UNDP anticipates a great national focus on this area. 

 

Promoting an informed, alert and self-reliant community, capable of playing its full part in support of and in cooperation with government, is therefore a must. This must also include all relevant disaster management matters and the establishment of the efficient disaster preparedness and mitigation mechanisms at the local level are the main priorities of the UNDP programme of support.

 

UNDP  supported the establishment of the ODPM and the first communication programme used to foster public understanding and awareness in two areas:

• Enhanced understanding of the role and function of the ODPM

• Greater awareness of the scope of hazards that are specific to each of the islands of the nation state of Trinidad and Tobago

Flooding in Caparo, Trinidad. Photo: Trinidad Guardian

 

The Caribbean is characterized by the recurrence of small, medium and large-scale disasters like hurricanes, floods, land slides, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, droughts and forest fires. In the last thirty years, the Latin America and Caribbean region has suffered a number of large scale disasters that have resulted in direct losses calculated at more than 70 billion dollars and affecting 30% of the total population.

 

The increase in disaster risk is a growing fact and is directly related to patterns of development in the region. This relates to a number of factors:

• Concentration in risk zones of very vulnerable social groups with a low economic capacity to absorb the impact of the disasters and recover from their effects

  
  

• Inappropriate land use, human settlements in areas prone to threat such as river banks and wetlands combined with fragile and insecure conditions of life with limited social infrastructure and services

  
  

• The continued increase of the levels of threat through the processes of environmental degradation

  
  

• Insufficient policies, administrative structures and legal systems for risk management that result in a weak capacity for its management and reduction on the part of the public institutions and the local and national governments

UNDP based on the comparative advantage of presence and trained human resources in these countries as well as their involvement in public policy at different levels in the region, supports the creation and development of strategies, which strengthen the national and regional capacities to mainstream risk management into development

 

UNDP provides the following types of capacity building support:

 

1. Reducing the impact of natural disasters requires a comprehensive approach that accounts for the causes of a society's vulnerability to disasters. Political will must be created to sustain new policies. The key elements of a comprehensive approach to disaster risk reduction consist of: Political will and governance aspects (policies, legal frameworks, resources and organizational structures)

 

2. Risk identification (risk and impact assessment, early warning)

3. Knowledge management information management, communication, education & training, public awareness, research)

4. Risk management applications (environmental and natural resource management, social and economic development practices, physical and technical measures)

5. Preparedness and emergency management.


  Regional Initiatives         

  The Caribbean Risk Management Initiative

The Caribbean Risk Management Initiative (CRMI) was launched by the UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) and Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC) in 2004 as an umbrella programme designed to build capacity across the Caribbean region for the management of climate-related risk.

As part of the UNDP strategy for knowledge management, the CRMI provides a platform for coordinating and sharing knowledge and experiences on risk management throughout the Caribbean, across language groups and cultures. Our premise is that the most sustainable way forward involves finding and sharing the lessons learned here in the region.

A decisive step forward in putting disaster risk reduction on the international agenda is the Hyogo Framework of Action, approved in January 2005 as an outcome of the World Conference on Disaster Reduction. UNDP supported the drafting of this framework, which entails increasing the resilience of nations and communities in the face of disasters.

UNDP’s crisis prevention, reduction and risk management portfolio in Trinidad and Tobago is concentrated in the following areas:

 

 

UNDP Project Title: Disaster Risk Reduction in Vulnerable Communities
UNDP Project number:	Focus Area:
	Service Line:
Dates:	Status: Ongoing
Location: Trinidad and Tobago
Implementing Partner:  Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management
Financial Information
Source of Funds:	Government   UNDP   Third-Party
Budget:	$US 10,000
Expenditure to date:
Brief Description: With rapid economic growth and urbanization in Trinidad and Tobago, coupled with the replacement of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) it became necessary to revise the public education programme on disaster preparedness and management in Trinidad and Tobago.  As a result, the objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive public education tool, which will be used to foster public understanding and awareness in two areas:  1) enhanced understanding of the role and function of the ODPM, and 2) greater awareness of the scope of hazards that are specific to each of the islands of the nation state of Trinidad and Tobago.    The project will be implemented by the ODPM and will yield as outputs two specific DVD’s which will present user-relevant educational content prepared in a situational context for maximum public education impact.
Project Document and Information (to be uploaded shortly)

 

Contact:

Ms Rosemary Lall

Programme Officer

Email: rosemary.lall@undp.org