Few can provide a better firsthand account of the toll that natural, biological, and other climate-driven hazards have on small island nations like The Bahamas
Global climate change is precipitating major shifts in weather patterns and setting the context for a world rife with unpredictable storm activity
REMARKS TO THE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION SUMMIT, 2022 - BY BAHAMIAN PRIME MINISTER HON. PHILIP E. DAVIS KC, MP
CONVENTION CENTER
BAHA MAR RESORT
CABLE BEACH
13 OCTOBER 2022
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We know about Disaster. We know what it
is like to live in a world where every year,
we brace ourselves for possible catastrophe. We know all too well the utter devastation a
hurricane can bring to our shores.
On September 1st 2019, a devastatingly
unprecedented Category Five hurricane
made landfall in Abaco and then Grand Bahama. That was a terror the likes of which
we’d never seen before.
Hurricane Dorian was, by all accounts, a
freak hurricane—a product of an ever-warming planet. Global climate change is
precipitating major shifts in weather patterns
and setting the context for a world rife with
unpredictable storm activity. It is us, low
lying island nations across the hurricane,
tornado and typhoon belt of the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans who are most vulnerable.
Few can provide a better firsthand account
of the toll that natural, biological, and other
climate-driven hazards have on small island
nations like The Bahamas. Hurricane Dorian took many lives, and
nearly decimated Abaco’s economy.
Our
entire world reeled in the aftermath. If this
were not enough, we were then confronted
with Covid 19, the worst respiratory illness
pandemic the world has seen since 1918. We
have suffered.
We had two trying years of economic setback and social hardship on the
heels of these major crises. The United Nations General Assembly has
declared today, October 13, the International
Day for Disaster Risk reduction.
Initiatives
like this are crucial to advancing the charge
for a world where extreme loss and tragedy
are tempered and mitigated by implementing
innovative response strategies and early
warning measures. Today, on this International Day of Disaster
Risk Reduction, we highlight the
commitment and collective action of not
only the Bahamian people, but of many
countries worldwide in reducing
devastation, loss of life, and economic
setbacks resulting from disasters.
We are not alone in facing these challenges. Our friends, family, partners, and colleagues
around the world face similar challenges. This rings especially true for our friends and partners from the University of Hawaii’s
Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) who have
been by our side and on the ground to
support responses to Hurricanes Dorian,
Joaquin, and Matthew.
Faced with similar challenges, The Bahamas
and PDC are looking beyond reactionary
measures to forge novel ways of thinking
and doing in response to disaster. To this
end, today we will sign an MOU between the University of The Bahamas and the
University of Hawaii.
We have also recently completed a National
Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment
(NDPBA) in partnership with the PDC. The
national baseline assessment provides a
localized, detailed assessment of risk for
each of the Family Islands.
It offers fresh insights to help meet the
critical needs of each island and bolster our comprehensive national strategy for disaster
management and mitigation. PDC’s national
baseline assessment program is not merely
recognized by the Bahamian government,
but internationally by the United Nations
and received first place in the Sasakawa
Award for Disaster Risk Reduction earlier
this year.
The program provides a global model for
translating complex risk information into meaningful disaster management policy,
planning, and action. These efforts support our Blueprint for
Change, which details aggressive actions to
kick start transformation in our economy
and the way we recover and rebuild.
We are
especially concerned with securing a
sustainable, dignified and resilient future for
all. The partnership between University of The
Bahamas and the University of Hawaii will
allow us to undertake joint scientific
research between our institutions to promote
sustainable solutions to help our island states
better adapt to the impending crisis we both
face.
Climate change is a slow onset mega
disaster that threatens the entire globe and it
requires a scientific foundation of knowledge to ensure that policy and actions
are rooted in evidence. We can no longer afford to view ourselves
in isolation from others, or act without
reliable information.
We must work together across national
borders to create a common scientific
foundation, to maximize our collective
efforts to build safer, more resilient
communities. The Bahamas is proud to be at the frontier of
this scientific approach with the University
of Hawaii and PDC.
We aim for this work to
benefit not only our island states, but all
nations around the globe. Hurricane Dorian put us to the test—we
faced that monstrous storm and suffered
terribly.
In our little island country, we say:
When you know better—do better. The government of the Bahamas is
staunchly committed to doing all it can to
implement effective disaster prevention
measures and we are thankful to our partners
at the PDC for their willingness and
enthusiasm toward the same. Thank you.
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