06 December 2005

Caribbean Urged To Reduce "Risk Profile" for Natural Disasters

USAID official says better planning needed against catastrophes

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Miami -- The unprecedented number of hurricanes and other natural disasters that have struck the Caribbean region in the last several years makes it clear that Caribbean nations must factor disaster risk-planning into their national budgets, says Karen Turner, mission director for the Jamaica and Caribbean Regional program at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Speaking December 6 at the 29th Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin, Turner said the region is faced with a competitive disadvantage in the global market if "scarce resources" continue to be used simply to rebuild what already existed in the Caribbean before it was struck by a natural disaster.

Turner said Caribbean countries need to "build back better" when they are struck by hurricanes and other disasters.  This can be accomplished, she said, by Caribbean heads of state agreeing on an "action agenda" to reduce the region's "risk profile" for catastrophic loss.

Caribbean governments, she said, need to integrate risk reduction into their developmental planning, and specific goals should be set with "measurable targets and benchmarks," while resource needs should be included in the countries' budgets.  Turner added that citizens of the region must be engaged in the process of planning for disasters. (See related article.)

Turner cited better planning against losses from disasters as one of several priorities for Caribbean states, in terms of how they can use the proposed Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy (CSME) to revive and sustain economic competitiveness in the region.

The CSME seeks to convert the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) into a single, enlarged economic entity -- or as near to a single market and single economy as possible -- by a target date of the beginning of 2006.

However, CARICOM has announced that only four of its 15 member nations -- Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Guyana -- have agreed to act by the target date to remove all restrictions on the movement of goods and services to create that single enlarged economic entity in the Caribbean.

Another priority, said Turner, is for the Caribbean's political leaders and governments to use the CSME to "proactively engage" civil society, nongovernmental groups, and other interested parties as "necessary partners" in the single-market plan.

Turner warned that the lack of a clear strategic vision, and lack of evidence that the Caribbean region is serious about timely and full implementation of the CSME, will discourage vital foreign investment and resources in Caribbean nations.

Caricom says that the CSME, if implemented fully, would provide for the free movement of capital, goods, people and services -- and would help establish a common economic policy and a common currency for the Caribbean.

For additional information on U.S. policies in the region, see The Caribbean.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)