Le changement climatique
Assistance to improve local agricultural emergency preparedness in Caribbean countries highly prone to hurricane related disasters
Natural hazards have severely destabilized the socio-economic fabric of the Caribbean region in the last two decades, with the most devastating impacts experienced in 2004. According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, at least 6,000 lives were lost, and over one million people were affected by climate related hazards in the region in 2004. Comprehensive assessments of the impacts of the extraordinary active hurricane season 2004 on five Caribbean countries revealed that the damages were close to US $5.7 billion. Moreover, the productive sectors which include agriculture accounted for over one third (35.2%) of associated damages and losses. Such events have exposed the socio-cultural and environmental vulnerabilities of the Caribbean basin, and the urgent need to rethink disaster management options.
A comprehensive approach to disaster risk reduction however, has not been integrally incorporated into the agriculture sector within the region. in 2005 FAO initiated the regional TCP “Assistance to improve Local Agricultural Emergency Preparedness in Caribbean countries highly prone to hurricane related disasters” in Cuba, Grenada, Haiti and Jamaica to “assist governments of participating countries to support the food security of small farmers operating in the most hazard prone areas by improving institutional frameworks and technical options for hurricane-related disaster preparedness, emergency response and post-emergency agricultural assistance”. The proposed approach was to use a Participatory Rural Appraisal - PRA/based qualitative research paradigm. This country report from Haiti and Grenada highlight the main outcomes of the project.