Conferences 2010

Regional Drought Management Conference

CBWMP and CDB join forces to prepare for future emergencies

St. Lucia to host Regional Drought Management Conference

Bay Gardens Hotel

St Lucia

May 27-28, 2010

Representatives of Governments and water utilities from across the Caribbean will gather in Saint Lucia later this month to exchange experiences, draw lessons and plan for any future drought emergency like that experienced across the region in the first quarter of 2010.

On May 27th and 28th, 2010 the Caribbean Basin Water Management Program (CBWMP), in collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), will host a conference on Drought Management.

The conference will bring together water utility managers, government officials, regional institutions, NGO personnel and other professionals operating in the water sector across the Caribbean.

Several regional organizations will also participate, including the CBWMP, CDB, CARDI, CaribDA, UWI-CERMES and the OECS.

Participants will be welcomed by Managing Director of St. Lucia’s Water & Sewage Company (WASCO) Mr John Joseph and the feature address will be by the Permanent Secretary in St. Lucia’s Ministry of Public Utilities Alison Jean, who will speak on the National Drought Management Policy. Dawn French, Director of St. Lucia’s National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) will also address the conference on Water sector Crisis Management.

The theme for the two-day meeting will be “Drought Management: Issues, Challenges and Lessons for Caribbean Water Utilities” and it will take place at the Bay Gardens Hotel in Rodney Bay.

Participants will discuss various aspects of drought experienced across the region, including indicators, socio-economic and environmental impacts, perception monitoring, public education, lessons learned, management experiences and recommendations.

The individual national experiences of water utilities will also be shared by representatives from Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago.

The conference will examine the main factors that contribute to droughts in the region and share lessons from the impact of the 2010 drought on countries and utilities. They will also examine and review policies, plans and arrangements in place to manage droughts across the region.

The participants will also assess the legislative and institutional reform measures required to enhance the capacity of utilities to manage droughts more effectively. And, at the end of the two days, participants will develop a common action plan for regional water utilities to manage droughts in the future.   

CBWMP’s Executive Director Victor Poyotte says, “The conference will allow us the opportunity to learn from the lessons of the past in order to plan better for the future, because the factors influencing drought have not gone away and we, on every island and in every territory in the Caribbean, need to be more than ready for the next time.”

According to Mr Poyotte, “Droughts are becoming more frequent everywhere in these times, so the next one may come sooner, rather than later. In that case, we need to start getting ready from now – and that’s what this conference is about: Getting our national water utilities ready to play their role whenever the next drought comes our way.”