Canada is pledging $100 million over the next five years to help Caribbean island nations recover from the devastation and damage caused by the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Canadian officials announced Tuesday at a pledging conference in New York.
The announcement at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-UN High Level Pledging Conference in New York was made by Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau.
“Canada is proud to stand in solidarity with its Caribbean friends that were impacted by the devastating 2017 hurricanes,” Caesar-Chavannes said in a statement. “We have listened to the region on its needs and understand that reconstruction and longer-term climate resilience go hand in hand. Canada will help the Caribbean rebuild better and stronger for the future.”
Ottawa’s announcement came as Caribbean countries struggle to raise funds for their immediate reconstruction needs and to prepare for the coming hurricane season and amid warnings by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres that these island nations need “a new and better deal.”
“During my visits to Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, I saw a level of devastation that I have never witnessed before in my life,” Guterres said, noting that in these islands alone, damage is estimated at $1.1 billion US, and total economic losses at $400 million US.
The new funding, which comes on top of the $2 million Canada contributed to humanitarian organizations for emergency relief, is aimed helping the most vulnerable people in the region, including the nearly 20,000 children who were affected by the hurricanes.
Ottawa wants to help rebuild more resilient communities so they can be better prepared for natural disasters, Caesar-Chavannes said.
Particular attention will be given in the coming months to specific projects aimed at reconstructing essential services, improving disaster risk management and emergency preparedness practices, supporting the role of women as leaders in reconstruction and adopting climate-adaptation measures at the community level, officials said.
Extreme weather is becoming the new normal and sea levels have risen more than 10 inches since 1870, Gutteres said. Over the past 30 years, the number of annual climate-related disasters has nearly tripled and economic losses have quintupled.
Of the 13 named storms in 2017, eight were hurricanes and of those, four were major hurricanes, including Irma and Maria. The back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes that battered the region displaced over 32,000 people. More than 1.2 million people have been affected by damage to water infrastructure.
The hurricanes also damaged other critical infrastructure, including the electricity distribution network, government offices, schools and hospitals, as well as private thousands of privately owned structures.
“Let’s not forget that these island States are not only interlinked by geography, but also interlinked by the economy, so when one country suffers, all countries suffer,” Guterres said.
Canada is working together with international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, to mobilize support for reconstruction efforts, officials said.
Canada represents many Caribbean nations on the Board of Governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
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