Pooling resources and sharing strategies at the Understanding Risk Caribbean Conference
Understanding Risk Caribbean Conference to be held in Barbados, 27 May – 1 June 2019
Hundreds of participants from more than 35 countries and territories will meet at the Understanding Risk Caribbean Conference in Barbados, at the University of the West Indies – Cave Hill Campus’ Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination, from May 27th to June the 1st 2019.
UR Caribbean is a response to regional calls for greater exchange, learning and harmonization of resilient investment and planning strategies, following the devastating 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. The meeting will bring together policy makers from government ministries and national disaster management agencies, disaster risk management experts, urban planners, insurance industry stakeholders, private sector organizations, NGOs and civil society groups, researchers and academic institutions, multilateral development banks, regional partners, and donors, to address the needs of the region.
During the Conference, participants will identify deficiencies in disaster risk information, share knowledge and best practices, and obtain in-depth training in risk analytics, fiscal resilience, coastal protection, emergency preparedness, and other areas. Global partners will highlight groundbreaking work, facilitate collaboration, and showcase new technical know-how in disaster risk identification.
The core technical themes at the Conference, covered in dozens technical sessions and plenaries, will include:
· Risk analytics and communication
· Physical resilience
· Fiscal resilience
· Urban resilience
· Coastal protection
· Hydromet and early warning systems
· Community engagement and emergency preparedness
UR Caribbean is organized by the World Bank’s Caribbean Disaster Risk Management team, in partnership with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the European Union, and will be hosted by the Government of Barbados. The conference is co-financed by the ACP-EU Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program, managed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery.
About Understanding Risk
The Understanding Risk (UR) Community is the pre-eminent platform for collaborating and sharing knowledge in the field of disaster risk assessment. Its members include over 8,000 experts and practitioners.
Established in 2010 by the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the UR Community convenes every two years at the global UR Forum to showcase the latest innovations and build new partnerships to foster advances in the field. Past global forums were held in London, Cape Town, Venice, Washington D.C. and Mexico City. In the interim, regional conferences are also held to galvanize localized efforts and build regional capacity in the area of disaster risk assessment.
About ACP-EU NDRM in the CARIFORUM
The Natural Disaster Risk Management Programme is an initiative of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, funded by the European Union to support disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation activities in the Caribbean Region.
The Programme’s main goal is to help reduce vulnerability to the long-term impacts of natural hazards and climate change.
NDRM was launched in 2014 for a period of five years and a funding of 20 million euros. Its implementing partners are the European Union, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the Caribbean Development Bank and the Government of the Dominican Republic.
