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CDEMA has developed and promotes the practice of Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) as an innovative concept for reducing the risk and loss associated with natural and technological hazards and the effects of climate change to enhance regional sustainable development.
CDM is defined as the management of all hazards through all phases of the disaster management cycle – prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery and rehabilitation - by all peoples- public and private sectors, all segments of civil society and the general population in hazard prone areas. CDM involves risk reduction & management and integration of vulnerability assessment into the development planning process.” (CDERA 2001, 2006).
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In 2001 the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), through broad based Stakeholder consultations, adopted a Strategy and Results Framework for CDM. The goal was to link CDM to development decision-making and planning. Five (5) years after the embracing of CDM by the region there was the recognition that whilst significant progress had been made in the advancement of CDM at the regional level, there was unanimity among CDM stakeholders on the need for strengthening and deepening CDM mainstreaming at the national and sectoral levels.
In 2007, CDEMA, then the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), revised and enhanced the Strategy within a Results Based Management (RBM) Framework. The revised Framework was informed by a review of the baseline study for and expected results from the 2001 CDM Strategy and Results Framework. The assessment also concluded that governance structures needed to be re-visited as was the need to build community resilience and mainstream CDM into national and sectoral planning. In addition, a number of crosscutting themes were identified during consultations:
- Adaptation to climate change and climate variability
- Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development and their link to the MDGs
- Use of information and communication technologies in CDM
- Integration of gender issues in CDM
- Institutional Capacity and Institutional Support to the CDM process.
In 2013, CDEMA led broad based stakeholder consultations amongst CDM stakeholders to inform the development of the 2014-2024 Strategy and Framework. Findings from a review of the progress made on the CDM Strategy 2007-2012 were also considered. The goal of the draft CDM Strategy 2014-2024 is to realize “Safer, more resilient and sustainable CDEMA Participating States through Comprehensive Disaster Management”. This goal is supported by four (4) priority areas and sixteen regional outcomes as represented in the CDM Logic Model.
The priorities of the 2014-2024 CDM Strategy are Institutional Strengthening; Knowledge Management to support evidence based decision making; Mainstreaming of CDM in Key Sectors; and Building Disaster Resilience. These outcomes/results guide the mobilisation of resources by the CDEMA CU on behalf of the Participating States as well as the development of multi-year CDM Country Work Programmes within the Participating States.
Gender, climate change, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and environmental sustainability are cross cutting themes in the implementation of the CDM Strategy.
Noting the resource constraints within Caribbean SIDS, and recognizing that efficiency and effectiveness can be arrived at through the strategic joining up of national resources under a national resilience agenda, CDEMA is advocating for the harmonisation of indicators for DRR reflected within Global Agendas such as the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Adaptation.
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