The Launch of the Resilient Environment and Agricultural Caribbean Habitats (REACH) Project will take place in St. Vincent & the Grenadines on April 4, 2019 as part of a two-day event to initiate the project. The launch event will take place at the Methodist Church Conference Hall, Kingstown from 9:00AM to 10:00AM.
The Hon. Saboto Caesar, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be the keynote speaker while remarks will be delivered by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Mr. Raymond Ryan, The Chief Agricultural Officer Mr. Ashley Cain along with regional partners including: Ms. Elizabeth Riley, Deputy Executive Director, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); Mr. Danielle Barelli, Disaster Risk Management Specialist, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Dr. Adrian Trotman, Chief Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and Mr. Davide Miozzo, Disaster Risk Management expert, CIMA Research Foundation.
The Objective of the ‘Resilient Environment and Agricultural Caribbean Habitats – REACH’ Project is to enhance the capability of small farmers and their communities to organize and manage Agricultural Disaster Risk Management initiatives through improved access to and joint management of relevant agro-meteorological information flows (on a two way basis system) and joint design and implementation of adequate agricultural risk management practices to enhance their resilience to shocks and hazards.
The REACH project builds on existing institutional experience at Caribbean and national level and on results of several previous initiatives focused on Agriculture Disaster Risk Management (ADRM) and resilience enhancement in Caribbean rural communities.
Considering that adequate information and capacities for DRM can provide the basis for agriculture & Natural Resource Management (NRM), the project aims at linking DRM with NRM/Agriculture’s good practices.
In this same direction, it will assist in actively involving institutions, farmers, youth and local communities in the co-management of innovative two-way community-driven mechanism for co-management and knowledge sharing of: i) adequate and timely agro-meteorological information; ii) appropriate practices and technologies for Natural Resource Management (NRM) and agricultural risk management, also related to the impacts of climate change (e.g. landslides and IPM pest and disease control); and iii) relevant information to promote resilient rural livelihoods.
Producing/exchanging/sharing community-driven information among disaster risk managers, extension services and agricultural communities in the Caribbean region, represents an effective and sustainable way for promoting new innovative mechanisms for better forecasting and managing disaster risks and events as well as pests and diseases incidence in crops, both of which have social and economic implications.
This implies the promotion and establishment of two-ways communication processes based on adequate methodologies, technologies, media and contents.
The REACH Project will be implemented over an approximate 10 month period ending December 31, 2019, through a partnership between the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), the Italian International Centre on Environmental Monitoring (CIMA) Research Foundation, under the overall coordination of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and with the financial support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
