KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The United Nations Growth Programme (UNDP) is to launch a brand new Catastrophe Danger Resilience (DRR) for the Caribbean with estimates displaying that from 1980-2020, loss and harm (L&D) as a share of gross home product (GDP) was the very best within the Caribbean small island growing states (SIDS).
UNDP Resident Consultant Dr. Kishan Khoday said that this was a median of two.5 %, in comparison with 2 % for the Pacific Small Island Growing States (SIDS), 0.2 % for the remainder of Latin America, and 0.1 % for Africa.
Talking on the UNDP’s Hurricane-Prepared and Resilient Discussion board on Loss and Injury for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Khoday, the Resident Consultant for The Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, mentioned the UNDP has been prioritizing help to international locations on the loss and harm agenda, “and in that regard we are actually open for enterprise when it comes to discussing potential new L&D initiatives in Jamaica, Bahamas and elsewhere within the sub-region.
He mentioned local weather damages alone are forecast to extend within the Caribbean from 5 % of GDP in 2025 to twenty % by 2100, presenting US$22 billion of annual losses.
“This has implications for key sectors in SIDS economies, similar to tourism and agriculture, the previous of which might see GDP lowered by 38-47 % by 2100. A specific concern is the influence on high-risk communities and MSMEs, that are on the base of key sectors and neighborhood livelihoods. ”
The UNDP official said that this vulnerability grew to become extra evident with the passage of Hurricane Beryl in 2024, significantly amongst micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). He mentioned they represent 97 % of all enterprises in Jamaica and 98 % of all enterprises in The Bahamas.
They contribute 28 % to Jamaica’s GDP and account for 80 % of the roles. These enterprises make use of 47 % of the workforce within the Bahamas and contribute between 20 and 30 % of the GDP.
Khoday mentioned micro-enterprises, specifically, are tiny and mighty, but largely casual, and but a hurricane can simply undermine the ability of MSMEs.
“MSMEs are disproportionately weak to hurricane impacts due to their informality, particularly within the micro-enterprise sector; dimension, restricted sources, insufficient entry to financing, insurance coverage, and catastrophe preparedness sources.
“MSME operated by girls and individuals with disabilities deal with added layers of vulnerabilities traced to gender norms, and stereotypes, household tasks and insufficient entry to capital. There are additionally nuanced necessities associated particularly to the wants of girls and individuals with disabilities that are usually missed.”
“MSMEs are, merely put, too important to nationwide financial wellbeing to fail or to maintain prolonged closures after a catastrophe. We should redouble our efforts to safe their catastrophe resilience and speed up their restoration. ”
Khoday mentioned that the UNDP’s 2021 Socio-Financial Impression Evaluation of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 Pandemic on MSMEs in The Bahamas, for instance, confirmed that 63 % of MSMEs have been affected, with greater than 55 % completely closing in Abaco and 11 % in Grand Bahama.
“We want complete catastrophe preparedness plans tailor-made for MSMEs and allocation of sources to reinforce their resilience and catastrophe restoration capabilities. And, by enhancing monetary help mechanisms for disaster-impacted MSMEs, together with probably through the brand new L&D Fund, we are able to develop aid past grants to accessible insurance coverage schemes and public-private partnerships.”
Khoday mentioned that Catastrophe Danger Resilience and Restoration (DRRR) stays a cornerstone of the UNDP’s supply, and over time, it has allotted US$100 million yearly to those efforts. He said that that is coupled with an ongoing portfolio of over $4 billion in grants for local weather motion in additional than 140 international locations.
He said that via the UNDP’s present Nation Programme in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman, and the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), help for local weather adaptation, catastrophe danger discount, and restoration interventions is a centerpiece.
“Most lately in Jamaica, following final 12 months’s hurricane Beryl, UNDP’s help for the livelihoods restoration of 54 enterprises led by girls and individuals with disabilities included grants for the restoration of small companies in addition to gender-sensitive climate-smart DRR coaching.”
He said that over time, the UNDP has supplied comparable help to impacted MSMEs in The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The post-hurricane Dorian bundle of interventions in The Bahamas, bolstered by a UNDP grant allocation, supported Resilient Restoration regulatory frameworks and techniques accepted by Cupboard; Housing Constructing and Injury Assessments of greater than 4000 buildings, Marine Particles research and cleanups, and money for work packages concentrating on the poorest and most impacted residents.
“We additionally help a local weather resilient multipurpose shelter on Abaco in The Bahamas able to withstanding 200 miles per hour winds. Supported by the federal government of India and UNDP, this can stand as a mannequin lesson in infrastructural resilience.”
Khoday mentioned he needed to commend the governments of Jamaica and The Bahamas for his or her “management and dynamism” in growing and sustaining fit-for-purpose nationwide catastrophe administration governance preparations, in addition to the companions in Cayman, Bermuda, and TCI for his or her examples of resilience within the face of more and more extreme hurricanes in recent times. “Your instance fashions the sort of management that’s vital for shaping resilient economies, and we glance to your management in additional strengthening help for MSME resilience and restoration.
“To additional advance our help, UNDP, UNDRR, UNICEF, and WFP, with the invaluable help of the EU, will quickly launch a brand new DRR program for the Caribbean, with important region-wide ends in focus in addition to devoted nation grants of as much as US$500,000 for instance in Jamaica geared toward capability improvement to scale up coverage, institutional and financing mechanisms for resilience restoration. Choices for embracing loss and harm finance generally is a key consequence.
“As Small Island Growing States of the Caribbean, you’re effectively positioned and certified to mannequin a resilient future the place nobody is left behind, one which embraces new financing choices, expertise, and governance options.
“Resilience should grow to be our first line of protection in opposition to unpredictable climate patterns and the way we speed up restoration from loss and harm,” Khoday mentioned.
