Water resource management climate change and sustainable development in the Caribbean

The Hummingbird Vol. 2 No. 12

Assessment of the effects of disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1972-2010

The purpose of this work is to review ECLAC’s experience in assessing the economic and social impact of disasters. Toward that end, the database established according to assessment reports is described and the patterns of sectoral damage and losses from different types of events are defined.…

Institucionalidad y marco legislativo de la discapacidad en Haití

Este documento expone los avances logrados por el Gobierno haitiano, en adecuar su marco normativo para hacer efectivo el pleno ejercicio de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad, tras el terremoto ocurrido en 2010. La información documental obtenida se desprende en gran medida del primer Informe presentado por el Gobierno de Haití al Comité de Derechos de las Personas con discapacidad (CRPD) en 2014, que fue elaborado en base a las consultas al Comité Interministerial de los Derechos de las Personas, organizaciones de y para personas con discapacidad, así como el Informe Alternativo s…

The Caribbean and the post-2015 development agenda

This paper will contend that the post-2015 development agenda presents a major opportunity for Caribbean countries to reverse decades of lagging economic performance and make the transition to balanced, holistic, and people-centred growth and development. The MDGs, while valuable in promoting gains in poverty reduction, health, education, nutrition, and maternal well-being were not tailored to the growth and development needs of the region. This can now be changed by a post-2015 development agenda which goes beyond improving the welfare of citizens by meeting basic needs and enhancing access t…

The Caribbean experience helps strengthen Peruvian disaster capacity

Peru is among the countries of Latin America that is most vulnerable to natural disasters. The establishment of the National Center for Disaster Assessment, Prevention and Risk Reduction (CENEPRED) is among the most significant efforts undertaken in recent times by the Peruvian government to comprehensively address the vulnerability of its population. Over the past few months, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with its well-established experience in dealing with natural disasters, has helped strengthen the capacity of CENEPRED officers, and of national …

ECLAC Caribbean talks to Trinidad students about disasters

A team from the ECLAC Port of Spain office visited the Tranquility Government Primary School in Port of Spain and the Diamond Vale Government Primary School in Diego Martin on 30 September – 01 October, to share information on how the students can better prepare themselves and their families to prevent, recognize the signs, and deal with disasters. The team delivered two awareness raising sessions to almost 200 fourth and fifth standard students from the two schools, as part of the organisation’s aim to promote disaster assessment awareness from an early age across the regio…

Trinidad and Tobago agencies receive training in disaster assessment

ECLAC Caribbean recognizes that there are different sectors involved in disaster assessment, and this training is part of the continuing series of ECLAC training sessions aimed at strengthening the ability of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to assess damage and loss caused by disasters. Participants who benefitted from this particular e training were not only from disaster preparedness agencies, but also from the health, agriculture, public utilities, telecommunications, education, planning and tourism sectors. An important aspect of this disaster assessment package for Trinidad w…

Regional implementation meeting on access rights and sustainable development in the Caribbean. Workshop on enhancing access to information on climate change, natural disasters and coastal vulnerability: leaving no one behind

This document summarizes the regional implementation meeting on access rights and sustainable development in the Caribbean and the workshop on enhancing access to information on climate change, natural disasters and coastal vulnerability: leaving no one behind held in Rodney’s Bay, Saint Lucia, from 24 to 26 August 2015.…

The Hummingbird Vol.2 No.9

Caribbean Countries Identify Challenges and Opportunities for Making Progress on Access Rights in Environmental Matters

Representatives from Caribbean countries are meeting on August 24-25 in Saint Lucia to identify opportunities for collective action on the path towards the full implementation of access rights to information, public participation and justice in environmental matters, enshrined in Principle 10 of the Declaration of the 1992 Rio Summit. The meeting is organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Participants include rep…

Países del Caribe identifican desafíos y oportunidades para avanzar en los derechos de acceso en materias ambientales

Representantes de los países del Caribe se reúnen este 24 y 25 de agosto en Santa Lucía para identificar oportunidades de acción conjunta en el camino para la implementación cabal de los derechos de acceso a la información, participación y justicia ambientales, consagrados en el Principio 10 de la Declaración de la Cumbre de Río de 1992. La reunión es organizada por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente (PNUMA), la Organización de Estados del Caribe Oriental (OECS, según sus siglas en inglés) y el World Resource…

The Hummingbird Vol.2 No.8

ECLAC disaster assessment package targets policy makers and children in Costa Rica

Policy makers and children in Costa Rica will soon be better prepared to prevent and deal with disasters, as ECLAC Caribbean brings its disaster assessment package to the country. Officials from ECLAC Caribbean will visit Costa Rica from 3-5 August, at the invitation of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN) to deliver training, this time not to emergency responders but instead to government policy makers, with emphasis on disaster assessment, pre-disaster preparation, prevention and incorporation of risk reduction policies. The training will benefit the new environme…

Damage and Loss Assessment

The Caribbean region is vulnerable to many types of weather related disaster as well as earthquakes. Disaster in the region have inceased over time. They are recurrent and happen unexpectedly. Damage and Loss Assessment is the basis for Post Disaster Needs Assessment.…

ECLAC Executive Secretary opens High Level Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago

“There is no question that the Caribbean is shouldering an unsustainable debt burden which compromises the capacity of the economies for sustained growth and restricts the options available to governments to introduce important social and welfare programmes” the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, said via video conference in opening the 17th meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) on 26 June, during which Ministers and high-level Government representatives from the…

ECLAC Trains Officials of the Region in Assessment of Disasters

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), through its Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean, is strengthening the capacity of specialists and officials of Latin American and Caribbean countries to assess the damages and losses caused by disasters, with activities in Peru, Costa Rica and Saint Vicent and The Granadines. In the case of Peru, the training session in Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) was conducted in Cusco from 16 to 19 June at the request of the National Center for Estimation, Prevention and Disaster Risk Reduction. This course served as the first …

New series of disaster assessment training sessions set to kick-off in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is the first of seven Caribbean countries to receive training on Post Disaster Needs Assessment from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean. The training will take place from 22nd to 25th June 2015, and will bring together expertise of the Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) methodology of ECLAC Caribbean and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) of Trinidad and Tobago. Other countries to soon benefit from these training sessions are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Gr…

ECLAC helps Peruvian officials better respond to disasters

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional office for the Caribbean is strengthening the capacity of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to assess the damages and losses caused by disasters. This is through a Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) training session that ECLAC Caribbean will conduct in Cusco, Peru from 16th to 19th June 2015. The training, which has been convened at the request of the National Center for Estimation, Prevention and Disaster Risk Reduction in Peru, will benefit sectoral specialists, as well as experts from institutions invo…

Una aproximación bayesiana a la medición de la vulnerabilidad poblacional a desastres naturales: estudio de caso para el Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia

En este artículo se explica el empleo de un enfoque bayesiano para medir la vulnerabilidad de una población a desastres naturales utilizando información climática, censal y administrativa. La aproximación bayesiana permite clasificar las regiones de acuerdo con su vulnerabilidad e identificar los factores físicos y socioeconómicos que hacen que una población sea más o menos vulnerable a una amenaza específica. Estos resultados son útiles para formular políticas de prevención de riesgos focalizadas en las regiones más vulnerables y en función de las características socioeconómicas más important…