As climate-related hazards intensify globally, strengthening early warning systems (EWS) has become crucial for protecting lives and building resilient communities. The United Nations' Early Warnings for All (EW4ALL) initiative exemplifies this urgent priority. The IDB actively supports this mission through loans and strategic technical cooperation projects across member … [Read more...] about Implementing Early Warnings for All in Caribbean Nations: Technical Pathways and Development Opportunities
Yuri Chakalall
Yuri Chakalall is an International Development Professional with twenty-eight years of combined experience in coastal resources management, environmental planning, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and humanitarian assistance. Yuri’s resilience-focused, interdisciplinary experience has been gained from field level implementation to senior level management of development initiatives spanning the public, private, civil society and multilateral development finance sectors throughout the Caribbean. His work in resilience includes advising on and advocating for disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) policies and developing sector studies and frameworks that are in use today by Caribbean governments and regional bodies. Over his career to date, he has a served as: Disaster Risk Management Specialist with the InterAmerican and Caribbean Development, Banks; a disaster reduction advisor for UNDP in Nepal; a senior Development officer with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Regional Director of Smith Warner International and Coastal Planner for Barbados. Currently he is Director and Lead Consultant for Resilience & Sustainability Caribbean Advisors (RASCA) LLC. Mr. Chakalall is a graduate of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and a postgraduate of the Marine Resource & Environmental Management Programme, Centre for Resource Management & Environmental Studies (CERMES), University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados. He completed his studies in humanitarian assistance, at the Center for International Cooperation in Health, at Fordham University, in New York.
From Conventional to Climate-Resilient Integrated Coastal Zone Management Public Policy
The natural boundary between water and land is much blurrier than it appears on a map. If you live near a pristine natural coastline or beach, go there with a map in hand. If you compare the actual sea/land boundary you observe, with the map, you will see how they do not match (or just how vague the boundary is). Seawater is constantly moving due to the complex effects of … [Read more...] about From Conventional to Climate-Resilient Integrated Coastal Zone Management Public Policy
Why Caribbean countries should not consider pausing climate-resilient public investments during the pandemic
The “debt and death” ailment is well-known to vulnerable Caribbean island states. Intensifying cycles of acute damage and loss from recurrent climate disaster-driven events are increasingly observed. This scenario is often accompanied by a net cumulative increase in sovereign debt, in part to finance resilient recovery and reconstruction, periodically punctuated by … [Read more...] about Why Caribbean countries should not consider pausing climate-resilient public investments during the pandemic
How to Strengthen Hurricane-Response and Recovery in a Global Pandemic
A 2019 Regional Hurricane Risk Analysis financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and undertaken by the firm Ingeniería Técnica y Científica S.A.S de Colombia found that Caribbean island states are indicatively at risk of suffering probable maximum losses of US$56 billion dollars for a probable 100-year cyclone. Typically, Caribbean disaster managers simulate and … [Read more...] about How to Strengthen Hurricane-Response and Recovery in a Global Pandemic
Protecting Tourism in the Caribbean through Smarter Crisis Management and Response Systems
When natural disasters strike, there are obvious immediate impacts. But long after the attention of the world shifts elsewhere, the effects of disasters like hurricanes, continue to negatively impact the growth and sustainability of Caribbean countries. One of the sectors that suffers the most is Tourism, which in many cases relies on physical attractiveness and the … [Read more...] about Protecting Tourism in the Caribbean through Smarter Crisis Management and Response Systems