Dominica (Dominica News Online) – A new Regional Emergency Shelter was commissioned in Castle Bruce on Wednesday as the government continues to construct resilient buildings in Dominica to fight against the impact of climate change.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said since 2017, the government has reinforced the need for proactive resilience planning and resource allocation, identified the needs of communities in a systematic manner and provided the necessary training and interventions to boost disaster response capacity at the local community level.
He said Wednesday’s function marks another significant milestone in Dominica’s efforts to boost resilience and engage in climate-smart planning to mitigate the impact of chronic events.
“The upgrades of climate-smart health centers and construction of new modern health and wellness centers in several villages, the banning of single-use plastics in 2019 by an Act of Parliament and the construction of hundreds of climate-resilient homes across Dominica, all speak to our determination to avoid the severe consequences of another hurricane on lives and livelihoods,” he stated.
In agriculture, he revealed that the sum of over 67 million dollars is being invested to assist farmers to maintain productivity and climate-proof their operations in livestock and crop farming and upgrading fisheries facilities to provide fishers with secure spaces for storage of catch and equipment.
Skerrit said further that the improvement of building construction codes is being promoted with adherence to standards and designs which are climate-resilient and environmentally friendly.
“The recent approval of the building codes regulations by the cabinet signals our intent to enforce the rules across the board to ensure new and existing structures meet the most stringent standards for safety in keeping with our ‘build back better’ approach,” the Prime Minister remarked.
