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Preparing Caribbean Culture for Natural Disasters
Recognizing the value and importance of safeguarding cultural heritage in the Caribbean, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) hosted a workshop on ‘Disaster Resilience in the Caribbean’s Culture Sector’ from 11th-12th March 2020 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
The workshop brought together participants from the cultural sector among the Caribbean Small Island Developing States as well as national disaster management agencies, humanitarian actors and development partners to discuss disaster resilience in the Culture Sector, as well as identify opportunities for collaboration between cultural and disaster management practitioners.
Highlighted during the workshop was the need to build awareness and foster synergies between policies and practices for the protection of culture from the effects of disasters through capacity building, awareness raising and advocacy. Guidelines towards the development of a strategy and plan of action for Disaster Resilience and Recovery in the Caribbean Culture Sector were also identified.
Although the Caribbean culture sector emphasizes the deep links between its people and their natural and cultural environment, the integration of the culture sector into the disaster risk preparedness, response and management strategies and plans at the national and sub-regional levels is highly recommended.
Many participants echoed sentiments that the workshop was an excellent opportunity for national disaster management practitioners to collaborate with the culture sector in paving the way for disaster resilience in the cultural sector. Delegates were present from CARICOM and Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Sint Maarten, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Netherlands Public Entities of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius.
The workshop is part of the UNESCO programme of ‘Culture in Emergencies’ that supports conventions, targeted actions and strategies to protect, prevent and restore cultural heritage in situations of crises such as armed conflicts and natural disasters.
