Dominica Develops Resilience
IMF News, November 4, 2021
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- Authors: Steven Dorst November
- Published: November 4, 2021
Context and climate risk
- Dominica is described as lying "smack in the middle of Hurricane Alley."
- The country has a rugged topography with dense mountain rain forests and nine active volcanoes.
- Most of the country’s 72,000 denizens live along the coast—vulnerable to strong winds, high seas, and landslides.
- The situation has become increasingly volatile with the growing frequency and severity of extreme climate events.
Impact of Hurricane Maria and economic costs
- In 2017, Category 5 Hurricane Maria caused widespread destruction:
- Whole communities, government buildings, roads and bridges, and power and water services were damaged or destroyed.
- The storm resulted in the loss of lives and $1.2 billion in damage in just a few hours.
- After Maria, Dominica faced damages totaling 226 percent of GDP.
- Rebuilding to climate-resilient standards would cost 25 percent more than traditional methods.
- Benefits from resilience investments materialize only over time, complicating financing decisions.
Response, strategy, and visible benefits
- Post-Maria priorities shifted to "building back better" and becoming a more resilient nation.
- The IMF worked with Dominica to:
- Understand the probability and intensity of natural disasters.
- Assess the costs and benefits of building to new resilience standards.
- The government launched a framework and strategy aiming to make Dominica the world's first nation resilient to hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
- Examples demonstrating the business case for resilience:
- The airport, inoperable after 2015 Tropical Storm Erika, was operational a few days after Hurricane Maria due to prior resilience measures.
- Communities rebuilt to new resilience standards remained intact after the storm.
Priority investments and measures
- Efforts are focused on:
- Upgrading and expanding the road network, including making bridges higher to allow for water and debris overflow.
- Building resilience into the housing sector.
- Upgrading hospitals and health centers.
- Supporting resilient agriculture for food security.
- Education, reforestation, and community preparedness training.
Equity and international implications
- Dominica, as a small island state that did not cause global warming, is suffering consequences and bearing adaptation costs disproportionately.
- The government and Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica emphasize that international support is needed: "If we want to make a meaningful contribution to helping small states adapt to climate change, then the international community needs to step up."
Attribution
- By Steven Dorst, November 4, 2021. This article first appeared in the most recent issue of Finance & Development Magazine produced in conjunction with COP26.
Source: Dominica Develops Resilience (IMF News).