The Government of Japan is contributing US$5 million to help rural women in Guyana and Dominica, particularly those engaged in agriculture, withstand the effects of climate change.
At the Ministry of Finance Thursday afternoon, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan signed the project documents with the United Nations Development Programme for the Japan-funded project.
A portion of the US$5 million project will be used in Guyana over the next three years. It is intended to help poor farmers, especially women, to withstand the negative impacts of climate change.
“As such, the project will focus, primarily, on women, whom, perhaps, are the most vulnerable section of the population that is exposed during droughts, floods, hurricanes and other severe weather conditions.
“This grant will be used to assist in building the capacities of women in Guyana and Dominica to influence and shape the trajectory of their lives and the lives of their families, in the face of frequent and recurring climate-related disasters,” Minister Jordan stated.
He said the project will also provide access to finances to ensure that investments made in the agriculture sector are sustained after the project would have ended.
These countries are constantly affected by hurricanes, flooding, and droughts, which negatively affect their primary industry, agriculture.
Due to the importance of the agriculture sector to national development, food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and livelihood opportunities, it is imperative that these nations are equipped with the knowledge to ensure the security of their primary sector.
The Minister said the removal of threats to sustainable agricultural development is important for food security, poverty reduction, peace and prosperity.
For this reason, he said these areas will be addressed at the national level of the two countries, to ensure that they are positioned to achieve the commitments in the context of the United Nations Multi-country Sustainable Development Framework (UNMSDF), the regional compass for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Jordan said the project is an ideal complement to the endeavours embarked on by the APNU+AFC Coalition, since acceding to office in 2015.
To date, he said achievements made are evidenced in, for example, the implementation of the Agriculture Disaster Management Plan, an output of which has been the circulation of the Farmers’ Monthly Bulletin.
This bulletin allows for proactive mitigation, preparedness and relevant responses by farmers, communities and other agricultural personnel to disasters.
Additionally, he said a regional disaster risk management system was established in Region 3 to educate and inform key stakeholders on measures to be used to mitigate the negative impact of disasters, such as flooding in thatRegion.
Further, he said regional multi-hazard and preparedness plans have been developed for Regions 1,2,3,5, 6 and 7.
“The objective of this thrust is to increase awareness and to bolster preparedness to make communities respond, rapidly, to threat or reality of natural disasters,” Jordan stated.
He said, each year, the Government commits substantial resources to rehabilitate, maintain and construct river and sea defences in order to protect the farmlands, crops, livestock as well as residential and commercial areas.
“Despite our efforts, our physical infrastructure still requires massive investments, if we are to effectively mitigate the effects of rising sea levels on coastal and low lying areas, among others.
“We also need to invest more in our human capital, to boost our capacity to implement, manage and monitor activities in this area,” he stated.
For its part, Jordan added that the Government will continue to pursue projects and programmes dedicated to realizing the potential of the agricultural sector and, in that regard, would continue to welcome and appreciate all types of assistance from development partners.
Yoshinori Yakabe, Deputy Head of Mission at the Japan Embassy in Trinidad, said that in light of the ever-increasing extreme weather events resulting from climate change, the Government of Japan is committed to supporting developing countries, such as Guyana and Dominica.
“These countries are constantly affected by hurricanes, flooding, and droughts, which negatively affect their primary industry, agriculture.
“Due to the importance of the agriculture sector to national development, food and nutrition security, poverty reduction and livelihood opportunities, it is imperative that these nations are equipped with the knowledge to ensure the security of their primary sector,” Yakabe stated.
