While another active and likely severe Hurricane season is approaching, different countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, particularly in the Caribbean, continue to slowly recover from the impacts caused by the catastrophic Irma and Maria events of last year. At the same time, more countries remain highly exposed to natural disasters - of different nature – whose frequency and severity is worsened by the effect of climate change and the limited application of measures for disaster risk reduction (DRR) in the region. According to the results of Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNAs) conducted in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, the overall amount of damage and losses that occurred in the agriculture sector and sub-sectors (crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry) in these two countries - after the last hurricane season - are: 211 USD million and 0.5 USD million respectively. These figures show how severely natural disasters can affect the economy and food security and nutrition of countries and people largely relying on the agriculture sector and sub-sectors. It is increasingly acknowledged that investing in preparedness and early action contributes to saving lives and livelihoods, and lowering the costs of humanitarian response. Early action consists of activities that can be implemented before anticipated hazards to mitigate and to prepare to respond to their impacts. Acting early in the face of the upcoming hurricane season has the potential to significantly reduce the impact on agricultural livelihoods. Additionally, studies continue to show that for every one dollar invested in preparedness, 3 to 5 dollars are saved in response and that on average one preparedness activity can save up to 1 week of response time. However, investments in early actions and preparedness are still very limited and the tendency is to continue spending billions of dollars on responses to humanitarian emergencies without successfully solving the root causes of the problem. The webinar aims to: • Enhance awareness on Agriculture Disaster Risk Reduction through Preparedness, Early warning and Early Action and Emergency Response in the LAC region; • Discuss approaches on disaster risk management in agriculture, with specific focus on the LAC region; • Exchange experiences in implementing preparedness, early action, and emergency response initiatives. Speakers: • Daniele Barelli, Subregional Emergency Focal Point and DRR Specialist, FAO • Laura Tiberi, Liaison and Operations Officer, FAO • Niccolò Lombardi, Early Warning Early Action Specialist, FAO • Oriane Turot, Emergency Food Security and Agriculture Assessment Specialist, FAO Moderator: • Sylvie Wabbes, Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer, FAO

2. DRM Webinar IV: Building resilience
to natural hazards and climate-
related disasters in the Caribbean
Daniele Barelli, Subregional Emergency Focal Point and DRR Specialist, FAO
Laura Tiberi, Liaison and Operations Officer, FAO
Niccolò Lombardi, Early Warning Early Action Specialist, FAO
Oriane Turot, Emergency Food Security and Agriculture Assessment Specialist, FAO
Sylvie Wabbes, Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer, FAO
26 June 2018

3. • This webinar aims to:
• Enhance awareness of FAO's Strategic Programme to increase
the resilience of agriculture livelihoods
• Explain the role of
o Emergency Preparedness
o Early warning Early Action (EWEA)
o Needs Assessments
in the Caribbean region.
Objective of this webinar

4. Caribbean SIDS – Crop and Livestock
Production Loss per Disaster Type,
2005 – 2015

5. Average absolute and relative impact of
disasters in SIDS and non-SIDS countries

6. Sub-sector Damages Losses Grand Tot. Needs
Agriculture 0.15 0.37 0.52 0.52
Fishery 0.31 0.16 0.47 0.46
Total 0.46 0.53 0.99 0.98
Sub-sector Damages Losses Grand Tot. Needs
Agriculture 55 124 179 88
Fishery 2 1 3 3
Forestry 30 - 30 15
Total 87 125 212 106
Impact of hurricane season 2017 on
agriculture sector in the Caribbean
Antigua & Barbuda –
D&L +Needs
in million USD
Dominica –
D&L + Needs
in million USD

7. Forecast hurricane season 2018
• The Atlantic hurricane season lasts from June through November.
• Seasonal forecast (last release on the 24th of May 18) indicate a
below average season.
• Forecasters expect a slightly below-average season, with 10 - 16
named storms. Five to nine of those are expected to become
hurricanes and one to four are expected to be major hurricanes.
• While above the long-term average of 10-16 named storms, 5-9
hurricanes and 1-4 major hurricanes, this forecast is quieter than
2017, which had 17, 10 and 6, respectively.
Source: National Hurricane Center (NOAA) /
World Meteorological Organization

8. Situating resilience in the global policy
processes
Sendai Framework for
Disaster Risk Reduction
Paris Agreement
Prevention Agenda
One Health/Global Health
World Humanitarian Summit

9. What is FAO resilience work?
Of whom?
The 2.5 billion smallholders worldwide who rely
on renewable natural resources.
The agricultural livelihood system supporting small-scale
farmers, herders, fishers and forest-dependent
communities
Three types of man-made and natural disasters
or crises affect the livelihoods of smallholders.
To what?
Of what?
Of whom?

10. FAO resilience pillars

11. Increase the resilience of livelihoods in
the face of threats
Risk Monitoring and Early Warning
Emergency Preparedness
Vulnerability Reduction Measures
Response and Recovery
Impact and Needs
Assessment
EW
Trigger
Risk governance and risk awareness
Early Action
Risk
Profiling
and
baseline
data

12. Emergency Preparedness for the
Agriculture Sector
• What is emergency preparedness?
• The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response
and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to
effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from the impacts of
likely, imminent or current disasters (UNISDR, 2017)
• Why is it important?
• Natural hazards and climate-related disasters in the Caribbean are
more predictable than often assumed
• Agriculture absorbs 23 percent of all damage and loss caused by
natural disasters; when only climate related disasters are considered
this figure increases to 26 percent
• Preparedness measures contribute to lowering human suffering, the
loss of livelihoods (damage and loss) and the costs/time of
humanitarian response

13. Understanding theriskyouarepreparing for
• Understanding the risk environment is crucial to identify
• agriculture sector preparedness interventions that are context,
sector and hazard specific and
• the capacities, knowledge and resources required to implement
these
• It is important to establish mechanism for the use of risk
information in a strategic manner by decision makers at
different levels, most importantly the farm producers in the
front-line
• Understanding the risk allows to put in place monitoring
mechanisms for the most context relevant hazards;
monitoring is a continuous process

14. Scaling-up emergency preparedness
Multiple
threats to
food security
and
increasing
frequency
and intensity
of climate
related
hazards
Regional,
national, and
local
institutional
preparedness
Farm-level
agricultural
DRR/preparedness
practices
Improve data collection, information
management and EWS
Put in place emergency response
mechanisms (financing mechanism,
SOPs, contingency plans)
Promote resilience good practices in
agriculture
Map and assess capacities and gaps
Strengthen community awareness and
participation
Strengthen agriculture
infrastructure to withstand
flooding or wind damage
Routinely prune/brace trees
prior to the hurricane season
Designate facilities for securing
fishing equipment/seeds and
seedlings
Establish livestock evacuation
routes and build refuge
mounds

15. Securing infrastructure: covering and securing
roofs of shelters to protect livestock

16. Banana tree bracing to avoid loosing the
trees due to strong winds and storms
©Alexandre Meneghini - Reuters

17. Use of livestock refuge mounds in the
case of floods
Hayloft for forage storage
Refuge mound during floods
Refuge mound during floodsConstruction of refuge mound

18. Early Warning Early Action (EWEA)

19. What are Early Actions
• “Early action are activities that can be implemented before the imminent
impact of an anticipated hazard to lessen the extent of its impacts” –
OCHA/FAO definition.
• Early Actions are ‘triggered’ by a change in the risk level which is signaled
through a specific early warning alert and early warning indicator
thresholds.
• Early Actions are those actions which FAO can implement in a defined
timeframe preceding a specific disaster event (anticipatory window)
within which it is possible to lessen the impact of the event on
agriculture based livelihoods.
• Actions include mitigation or preparedness activities. The distinction
between mitigation and preparedness activities is not always clear cut as
many activities can be considered to belong to two or more categories.

20. Hurricane Preparedness and Early Action
examples
Preparedness Early Action
Communication and Planning
Establish communication and outreach plans Provide alerts (via text) to fishers or farmers working in remote locations
Community training on asset protection, including equipment and infrastructure
(e.g. securing animal shelter roofs)
Asset protection upon early warning emission
Fisheries
Pre-allocation and distribution of containers to keep fishing gear safe and solar-powered
refrigerated storage facilities
Storing fishing gear to safe havens upon early warning emission
Designation of facilities for securing fishing equipment and gear Moving boats and fishing gear to safe havens
Agriculture
Preservation of seeds and seedlings
Pre-harvesting of staple crops
Food processing and preservation practices (prior hurricane season starts / upon early warning emission)
Pre-position tools and clearing equipment
Selection and agreement on storage facilities (in case of flooding these should be about
1.5 m of height)
Transportation of equipment, irrigation equipment, mobile garden beds, vertical farming,
etc., to safe havens or crop silos
Triangular Bracing Mechanism for Bananas
Forestry
Routine tree-canopy management
Prune tree-canopy and harvest fruits, such as coconuts and papaya upon early warning
emission
Livestock (poultry, sheep, goats, bees)
Selection and agreement on livestock evacuation sites and safe areas Evacuate livestock to pre-identified sites
Preposition feed, health treatments, milk stabilizers and diesel plants to ensure
continuity of milking at dairy farms
Distribution of material for continued milking after the hurricane
Cash and Vouchers
Develop capacity of staff to use cash and vouchers, assess and monitor market functioning,
map and assess the capacity of potential service providers
Cash transfers (via Social Protection systems) alongside a messaging system of ‘best-
practices’ on how to protect livelihoods with a forthcoming cyclone early warning
EW trigger

21. Early action in the face of hurricanes -
Example
• Information advisories on how
to best protect assets, issued
by Min. of Agriculture/NDMA
(e.g. through SMS).
• Cash transfers through social
protection systems, issued
upon early warning triggers,
allow fishers to cover the cost
of safeguarding their
equipment inland before the
hurricane hits.
©Guadalupe Island - Hurricane Maria 2017
(Picture: Dominique Chomereau-Lamotte)

22. Early action in the face of floods –
Example (Somalia)
• Early warnings in August/September
indicated heavy rainfall for the Deyr
season in October, driven by El Niño.
• FAO Somalia acted early: reinforced
banks and built barriers at over 90
critical flood points along the
Shabelle and Juba rivers.
• Remote sensing and post-flood
assessments found that over
9,000 ha of farmland was saved
• This corresponds to over
USD 6.7 million in maize production,
about 4 times the initial investment.

23. Hurricane season in the Caribbean –
Early Action Timeline
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Climate
Impact of Hurricane
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Indicators - Triggers
Emergency Response Emergency Response
Early Actions
EMERGENCY ACTIONS (out of the Early Actions scope)
Phase Two: Early Actions
Phase One: Early Actions
MONITORING
R
I
S
K
L
E
V
E
L
PRE-EMERGENCY Early Actions
Long-range seasonal forecast (above average
hurricane activity) + High Vulnerability
Weekly & hourly Meteorological Service
Updates (tracking hurricane path and intensity)
Wet Season
Hurricane Season

24. Needs Assessments: Post Disaster Impact
and Needs Assessments
Phase 0
Pre-crisis
Recovery assessment
• Livelihood recovery
assessment
Phase 1
72 hours
Phase 2
2 weeks
Baseline Initial
assessment
Multi-cluster:
• MIRA / DANA
Rapid assessment
Multi-cluster:
• MIRA II
Agriculture sector:
• Rapid food
security and
agricultural
livelihoods
assessment
Phase 3
3 months
In-depth assessment
Multi-cluster:
• PDNA / DaLA
Agriculture sector:
• Food Security and
Agricultural
livelihoods
assessment
• Specialized sub-
sectoral
assessments
Phase 4
12 months
What is the impact of the
disaster on agricultural
livelihoods and food
security?
Who and how many have
been affected? Who has
been most severely affected?
What are the risks for the
near future?
What are the immediate
and longer term needs of the
people?
Are there underlying causes
contributing to this impact?
What could be done to not
just replace what has been
damaged or lost, but build
resilience?
Post disaster impact and needs assessmentsDisaster
What can be done now?
• Gather baseline data
• Organize trainings
• Establish procedures and responsibilities
• Identify key humanitarian indicators
• Prepare with fact sheets and lessons learnt on the likely disaster
What outputs?
• Pre-crisis data compiled
• Assessment preparedness
plan

25. Needs assessments: Within an Agriculture
and food security information system
Disaster
Trigger
Pre crisis
baseline data
Post disaster impact and needs
assessmentsEarly Warning
Risk Monitoring
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY INFORMATION SYSTEM
Initial assessments
Rapid assessments
In-depth assessments
PDNA/DaLA
Recovery assessments
Livelihoods
Demographics
Socio-economics
Agriculture
Hazard risks
Food security and nutrition
Alerts
EW assessments
Agricultural production, market functionality, hazard risks (weather conditions, pests and diseases, etc.)
=> Release early warnings
=> Monitor risk reduction targets under Sendai framework and SDG indicators on D&L
An AFSIS collects data,
analyses it and
communicates information
for evidence-based
programming

26. Needs Assessments: Building resilience?
PDNA.
Baseline Disaster impact Recovery needs
Response options
analysis
Recovery
framework
• Informing resilience
• Contribute to an information system: data from needs
assessments feeds back into disaster risk profiles and helps
reduce risks to future hazards.
• Livelihoods approach - not only macro level damages &
losses calculations.
• BBB - Building Back Better to increase resilience.
• Bridging information and action
• Strategic planning of disaster response and recovery to
reduce future risks for resilient and sustainable development.
• Multi-sectors and multi-stakeholders process such as Recovery
framework after PDNA.

27. Conclusions
• For SIDS and Caribbean SIDS especially, shifting from emergency response to risk reduction
response (including emergency preparedness, EWEA and needs assessment among others)
is urgently needed.
• Even if the Agriculture sector plays a minor role in the economy and GDP of some of the
Caribbean SIDS, the roles of the agriculture, forestry, fishery and environment related sectors
are underestimated for supporting lives, livelihoods and in pre and post disaster situations.
• Risk and vulnerability assessment, Emergency preparedness, EWEA as well as resilience good
practices must be boosted across the agriculture sectors. This also include the enforcement
of existing national and international policies and frameworks (i.e. ADRM Plan, Sendai, SDGs,
etc.).
• Today there is a growing body of evidence on the role of green and blue and hybrid
infrastructures or nature-based solution for risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
• Standardized data collection and institutionalization of tools and methodologies for pre and
post-disaster analysis and monitoring remains critical for building a resilient agriculture
sector.
• Overall the resilience of agriculture livelihoods is an essential ingredient for sustainable
development and prosperity of present and future generation.

28. Thank you