Minister of Planning and Development, Pennelope Beckles, who holds responsibility for the environment has cautioned that Early Warning Systems, while effective, come with complexities and costs.
She was speaking at a COP28 side event yesterday in Dubai at the Canada Pavilion titled; Ministerial Panel Discussion on Leaving No One Behind: Collaborating to Scale Up Early Warnings for All by 2027.
The discussion came as a new United Nations (UN) report released yesterday found that 101 countries now have some sort of Early Warning System in place, up six from last year and double the number in 2015.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, introduced the Early Warnings for All initiative in 2022 with a vision to establish an effective early warning system for every person on earth by the end of 2027.
The panel yesterday also included Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Dr Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon and Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation in Jamaica Matthew Samuda.
In her contribution, the Minister alluded to the expense of Early Warning Systems but also went further in saying that the systems require maintenance and financial backing. She said, “Even as we speak of policy, similarly to talking about your 2030 agenda or your Sustainable Development Goals, there are timeframes when the issue of financing is always very critical. That, of course, is one of the challenges for Small Island Development States (SIDs) so you establish your Early Warning Systems which needs continuous updating, which needs regular maintenance because you have to select sites that are themselves often very challenging.”
She added that building Early Warning Systems often takes place on sites that are going to increase cost and she says that is a major issue for SIDs.
Minister Beckles also warned rural communities need to be included in the conversation when it comes to Early Warning Systems. Beckles went further in saying, “While in T&T we can talk about relatively good coverage as it relates to internet access and coverage as it relates to telecom, there are still rural communities that don’t always have the benefit of those kinds of assistance so there is a relationship between your Early Warning Systems and the extent to which timely, accurate information can reach to all communities.” She called for proper linkages between modern technology and traditional methods of early warning that are used by rural communities.
Dr Leon in his contribution said we must see Early Warning Systems as the entirety of what we are trying to avoid, at what cost, what is within our control and what is not within our control. “That is where the real strength and power of Early Warning Systems come to play,” he said.
He says the CDB takes a framework perspective on Early Warning Systems which is broken down into data on which you can base your decision-making capacity, then how to use that data to be able to predict, model and enable us to form decisions. Then, ultimately, he says it comes down to dissemination through communication and policy standpoints. “Irrespective of how well you can model, how you can predict, if you are not able to craft and implement policies that would allow that modelling to be effective then you have no way of controlling or meeting the outcome that you are looking to do,” Dr Leon said.
He says the CDB looks to facilitate gaps that exist in each of those areas. Dr Leon says what makes the difference between the vulnerabilities countries face and the outcome they are looking to establish is the “possibility and capability of resilience.”