That’s according to a report released Tuesday by the UN’s disaster risk reduction agency, UNDRR.While current estimates suggest the global economic impact of natural emergencies – such as earthquakes, landslides and floods – amounts to around $200 billion annually, this figure represents “only a fraction of the real costs,” said Jenty Kirsch-Wood, head of global risk analysis for UNDRR.The true cost is closer to $2.3 trillion, she added, warning that the world has been “chronically underestimating and undermeasuring the impact of disasters” on sustainable development progress.Catastrophic floodsA person born in 1990 has a 63 per cent chance of experiencing a once-in-a-century catastrophic flood in their lifetime. For a child born in 2025, that probability rises to 86 per cent.“Those events are affecting us all,” said Ms. Kirsch-Wood.The cost of extreme weather is not measured solely in destroyed infrastructure, but also in lost years of health, education and opportunity.Unsustainable humanitarian responseHealthcare, education, and employment are increasingly disrupted by emergencies, leading to higher national debt and slower recovery – particularly in already vulnerable countries.This has contributed to “an unsustainable and unsupportable humanitarian response,” Ms Kirsch-Wood added, as nations grapple with increasingly frequent and severe climate shocks. Losses have doubledAccording to UNDRR, financial losses from disasters have doubled in the past two decades.The agency’s new report outlines how the international community can collaborate to make sustainable investments that build resilience to future disasters and ease pressure on public finances.Most of the damage caused by climate-related events is preventable, Ms. Kirsch-Wood stressed.The challenge ahead, she said, is to “better align our financing systems” and “use public and private investment to make sure that we’re optimally reducing the burden on governments.”Nearly 240 million people were internally displaced by disasters between 2014 and 2023.China and the Philippines each reported over 40 million displaced persons, while India, Bangladesh and Pakistan saw numbers ranging from 10 to 30 million.The steep costs associated with climate events – and the debt they generate – disproportionately affect developing countries and vulnerable populations. Vulnerable hardest-hitIn 2023, North America recorded $69.57 billion in direct disaster-related losses – more than any other region – but this amounted to just 0.23 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).By contrast, Micronesia incurred only $4.3 billion in losses, but this represented a staggering 46.1 per cent of its GDP.The UNDRR report “shows the eye-watering losses inflicted by disasters today, which hit vulnerable people the hardest… and it demonstrates that, on our current trajectory, costs will continue to mount as the climate crisis worsens,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.“But it also illustrates that, by boosting and sustaining investment in disaster risk reduction and prevention, we can slow that trend and reap economic benefits – saving lives and livelihoods while driving growth and prosperity to help reach our Sustainable Development Goals.”Private sector roleProven tools – such as flood protection infrastructure and early warning systems – can help the worst-affected nations curb the rising costs of climate-related disasters.Increased investment in risk reduction and resilience can reverse current trends, said the head of UNDRR, Special Representative Kamal Kishore, citing the example of protection from overflowing rivers. “When riverbank communities have access to scientific tools for land use planning, resources for building flood protection systems, and early warning systems, they not only reduce damages and losses from floods, but also create conditions for prosperity and sustainable growth in their communities,” he said.The private sector, UNDRR emphasised, must also step up to “fill the protection gap that leaves many countries in a worsening spiral of repeated disasters.”....................................................................................This story was first published by UN News., filtered_html

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) joined the Government of Barbados and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) on 26 May 2025 to inaugurate the Caribbean’s newest disaster preparedness and response hub. The Caribbean Regional Logistics Hub, inaugurated just ahead of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season starting 1 June, will store and dispatch critical relief items to affected communities in case of a disaster. The hub’s strategic location at the Grantley Adams International Airport and proximity to the main highway and port facilities will allow for both air and sea operations during an emergency response.The Hon. Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, Executive Director, CDEMA, Elizabeth Riley, and WFP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Lola Castro officially opened the new facility.  “This hub is about saving lives. This is about getting food and critical supplies, including pharmaceuticals to persons within 48-72 hours of a major disaster. It isn’t only limited to emergency responses for disaster, it is also going to be for humanitarian crises,” said Mottley.The hub comprises a large fully enclosed warehouse and outdoor container park with space for up to forty, twenty-foot shipping containers. Additionally, the compound provides adequate space for consolidating equipment before shipping. The hub comprises of 2,500 square metres of covered storage space, 1,300 racked pallets and approximately 1,600sqm of open storage space. “Having seen how devastating hurricanes and other hazards can be in the Caribbean, we are proud to have this Caribbean Regional Logistics Hub in place,” said Castro. “WFP works with partners in the region and globally to enhance national response mechanisms to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response in order to save lives.”Through collaboration with CDEMA, the Government of Barbados and other key stakeholders, plans are in place to expand the facility. The next phase, the establishment of a Centre of Excellence, will see the development of greater emergency response knowledge, skills and expertise in the region, through specialized training programmes. “Recent geopolitical shifts have disrupted traditional support streams for humanitarian action highlighting the high-risk exposure of our system. The CDEMA system must now re-double efforts towards greater self-reliance, further deepen national capacity, enhance regional cooperation, and embrace new and non-traditional partnerships”, said Riley. “The hub supports this. It offers the infrastructure to pre-position high-demand emergency supplies.”While still under construction, the hub proved to be essential to the response to Hurricane Beryl in 2024.The construction of the hub was made possible through vital partnerships with the Government of Canada, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the European Union, the United States and the World Food Program USA. The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.Read the original press release at the website of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). , filtered_html

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a United Nations specialized agency, maintains a wide global presence, with over 50 offices spread across every region in the world. The work accomplished by these field offices not only supports the communities of the region or subregion served but also bolsters the reputation of UNESCO and the wider United Nations system everywhere, ultimately strengthening support for positive international cooperation on many issues.In October 2024, I joined the UNESCO Office for the Caribbean, located in Kingston, Jamaica. The Office serves the entire English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. I was recruited as an international United Nations Volunteer (UNV), in the “Expert” category. Generally, this category is reserved for individuals willing to volunteer meaningfully in a wide range of activities mandated by the United Nations, utilizing critical skills, specialized knowledge and professional expertise. These qualifications are coupled with graduate studies and a number of years of relevant experience; for this role, the minimum requirement was 15 years.UNESCO Field Offices such as the Office for the Caribbean are key to ensuring the appropriate execution and implementation of UNESCO programmes and projects in the field, and for reporting on the circumstances and realities of the country or countries covered. They engage with government counterparts and other relevant stakeholders, notably educational institutions; civil society, including youth groups; entrepreneurs; media outlets; and people working in creative fields.My work fulfils dual roles. Principally, I participate in six United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) across the subregion. These teams are led by the United Nations Resident Coordinator and include all United Nations entities—resident and non-resident ones alike. UNCTs are tasked with, among other duties, ensuring inter-agency coordination and decision-making at the country level. In this context, I prepare inputs, provide the views of UNESCO on critical issues, summarize discussions and record decisions. Collectively, this work serves as a mechanism for capturing the thinking of the United Nations system as a whole and provides a space for agencies such as UNESCO to be heard.I am also part of the respective Programme Management Teams (PMTs), which are platforms for internal United Nations dialogue on strategic-level policy and programme issues associated with the Multi-Country Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks—in our case, the framework for the Caribbean subregion. Moreover, I coordinate the UNESCO contribution to inter-agency working groups and other mechanisms, follow up on the UNESCO inputs to United Nations planning and monitoring, engage with the wider United Nations system on reporting and other relevant matters, keep abreast of important United Nations initiatives, and identify priority issues and topics in need of attention. UNESCO is widely perceived as the intellectual branch of the United Nations system, a notion rooted in the preamble of its Constitution, which reads, “…peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind”. Yet what I see and read about the various activities and initiatives carried out in the subregion points to concrete, substantive tasks ranging from capacity development to awareness-creation, from instilling principles and values to updating curricula, from protecting biodiversity to ensuring local knowledge is recognized, and from promoting heritage to addressing the challenges of artificial intelligence or threats related to natural disasters.My overall mission is to maintain a close relationship with the rest of the United Nations system, obtaining crucial information for UNESCO while being the voice of the agency vis-à-vis the other United Nations entities. It is a sort of diplomatic assignment of a multilateral nature, the difference being, of course, that I do not represent a single Member State but rather a specialized agency, with its “capital” being UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Nevertheless, most of the information I collect and most of the work I do supports our own multisectoral regional office, which covers twenty countries and territories.My job is not limited to United Nations coordination, though. Based on what I did and learned in my previous roles in the United Nations Secretariat, I also serve as the Communications Focal Point for the Office, overseeing its communications activities, managing the website and social media platforms, and participating in the regional and national United Nations Communications Groups (UNCGs). Related tasks include drafting and editing news articles, press releases and speeches, and creating other communication and information products as appropriate, in addition to contributing to selected and targeted communication campaigns with other United Nations entities in the Caribbean.A common denominator of my work is increasing the visibility of UNESCO. The more the agency is known, the better. And that is precisely what I try to do on both the United Nations front and the communications side. It is vital for UNESCO to be featured in the Annual Results Reports published by the United Nations Resident Coordinator Offices in the Caribbean, and for the governments to know what we are doing and how. It is equally important for the public to understand—by looking at our website and social media—the work we do and why we do it, and that they engage with us and help amplify the reach of our extensive portfolio of activities. In the challenging global context, this seems to be of utmost relevance. Working in the field—something I would recommend to anyone—implies adapting to local customs and a certain pace of life. Things are significantly different here compared to, say, New York. Aside from work, living in Jamaica is an experience in itself, being a country with a very particular set of features that one must adapt to. It is endowed with beautiful tropical landscapes, a distinct patwa language, and a rich athletic and cultural legacy that is manifested in a variety of ways, most notably through music. While being comparatively closer to my home country geographically, with both nations sharing the Caribbean Sea, Jamaica is very different from Venezuela and absolutely unique.Jamaica—and the wider subregion served by this Office—faces a wide range of complexities. These include a heavy reliance on imports of basic goods, persistent social inequities, limited development opportunities, high migration rates and a strong dependence on remittances. Security issues, particularly those affecting vulnerable communities, further compound these difficulties. Yet, amid these challenges, I have witnessed a deep sense of pride among the people—pride rooted in their rich history and a clear awareness of the opportunities that lie ahead. Climate change and economic instability pose additional risks—especially within the tourism sector, which directly or indirectly contributes more than a quarter to national gross domestic product—but they also highlight the urgency and importance of sustainable development, specifically in those areas within the mandate of UNESCO.In a nutshell, my job is both demanding and rewarding. It has allowed me to serve in the field and on the ground—far from the United Nations hubs in New York, Bonn and Vienna—for the first time in my United Nations career. My work in Kingston has strengthened my belief in multilateralism, a conviction nurtured over years working in the United Nations Department of Global Communications, the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and after covering the Organization for a Venezuelan media outlet, analyzing global affairs on a daily basis and teaching about the United Nations at a Venezuelan university. It is fair to say that my entire professional life has been devoted to multilateralism. My participation in the work of multilateralism in the field, and seeing it produce concrete results for real people and communities, has been truly meaningful and gratifying............................................................................................This story was first published to the website of UN Chronicle.The UN Chronicle is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
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The Latin America and the Caribbean region generates over 541,000 tonnes of waste daily, with 90% ending up in disposal sites such as landfills and garbage dumps, according to a World Bank report. The Caribbean alone contributes more than 10,000 tonnes each day, much of which pollutes the ocean or fills disposal sites. This growing waste crisis poses serious environmental threats, endangering marine ecosystems, biodiversity, and coastal communities.The Zero Waste in the Caribbean initiative, funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Government, is reshaping waste management across the region, in collaboration with Cariforum and development partners like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). This initiative is strategically aligned with the EU Global Gateway Investment Agenda. This ambitious project is more than a cleanup effort—it’s a transformative shift toward circular economies, marine conservation, and green job creation. At the World Circular Economy Forum 2025 (WCEF2025) in São Paulo, Brazil, Caribbean representatives from Trinidad, Grenada, Belize, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, as well as development partner Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF), joined world leaders, innovators and circular economy champions in showcasing innovative solutions that tackle fragmented waste policies, introduce cutting-edge waste treatment technologies and strengthen legislative frameworks. Their presence underscores the importance of global collaboration in scaling these efforts, positioning the Caribbean as a leader in sustainable development. Why is this important?By aligning with WCEF2025's vision, the Caribbean is proving that zero waste strategies can drive economic growth, protect marine ecosystems and foster innovation—making this more than just a regional initiative, but a blueprint for global sustainability.

At WCEF2025, May 13-16, Caribbean delegates had the opportunity to:Showcase tangible progress on national waste bans, circular business models, and recycling innovations;Forge strategic partnerships with financiers and development organizations to scale solutions;Amplify island priorities in global discussions on the bio-economy, regeneration, and sustainable production;Gain insights from regions at the forefront of circular transitions, including Latin America and the Pacific.
The Caribbean's participation in WCEF 2025 fostered collaboration, networking, and private sector engagement, advancing national circular economy initiatives while also unlocking investment opportunities for sustainable growth. As global leaders shaped the future of sustainable growth, the Caribbean stood proudly as both a frontline region and a source of circular innovation.

Let’s continue bridging regional action with global transformation—because Zero Waste isn’t just local, it’s a driving force in a worldwide movement. The Caribbean is proving that small nations can lead big change!, filtered_html