Caribbean governments and communities must urgently rethink how they prepare for increasingly complex and compounding climate threats, with a shift towards anticipatory risk management that places people at the centre of development, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has urged.

CDEMA’s Executive director Elizabeth Riley told an annual conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management that traditional disaster management models are no longer sufficient. Amid a rapidly changing regional landscape, the agency urged a shift from reactive disaster response to proactive, anticipatory risk management that puts local populations at the absolute centre of development.

Executive Director CDEMA Elizabeth Riley. (File Photo)