PM – Regional Governments must place disaster risk reduction policies as national priorities

Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, who is performing the functions of President, said that
governments within the Regional must place disaster risk reduction policies as national priorities
and mainstream disaster risk management into all aspects of their countries’ developmental
efforts.
Phillips made this appeal during his remarks this afternoon at the Seventh Regional Platform
Meeting for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Americas and the Caribbean. “Over just a few
months, our Region has been faced with an earthquake which has devastated our brothers and
sisters in Haiti, volcanic eruption which has created complexed emergency response challenges
for St Vincent and the Grenadines and surrounding islands, and persistent floods, which have had
severe impact on our productive sector in Guyana, Suriname and other parts of South, Central
America and the Caribbean…our assignment now is to get ahead of the curve,” he said.
The acting President highlighted Guyana’s efforts in his Government’s drive to make the
necessary changes. “A few days ago Guyana launched our Low Carbon Development Strategy
2030. A strategy that is intended to map Guyana’s new growth trajectory, guiding the
management of our rich natural resources in line with sustainable development goals. This
strategy is supported by our Comprehensive Disaster Management Country Work Programme
2021-2025, an important tool to guide our country’s continued and increasing investments in
DRR. Together these frameworks form the undercurrent of our development thrust,” Phillips
said.
The acting president added that as the country with the fastest-growing economy within the
Region, Guyana is well aware that securing its economic future means investing in sustainable
climate action. “Guyana has ongoing major investments to strengthen sea defence infrastructure
in vulnerable coastal communities. There’s also extensive enhancement of road networks to
support sustainable development with a view of enhanced evacuation planning. Rehabilitation of
drainage and irrigation systems to reduce flood risk is also ongoing,” he explained.
He said that the Seventh Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Americas and the
Caribbean was aimed at raising awareness about the increasing challenges faced by Small
Islands Developing States (SIDS) with regard to enhanced natural disasters stemming from the
effects of climate change.
The four-day event, which concluded today, was themed “Building Resilient Economies in the
Americas and the Caribbean”.