From:TheBahamasWeekly.com

Caribbean News
CTO hosts National and Regional Climate Resiliency and Disaster Management Training Workshops
Sep 27, 2018 - 2:41:05 PM

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NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism of The Bahamas, is hosting a series of workshops on Climate Sensitisation and Disaster Risk Management in Nassau, Bahamas. These workshops are aimed at facilitating the sharing of knowledge and best practices on strategies related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as identifying sound disaster risk management approaches.

 “The topics of climate change and disaster preparedness are very pertinent to us in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean. We live in a region that is prone to the effects of climate change and natural hazards especially hurricanes. Given the current and future impacts of climate variability and climate change, it is imperative that countries particularly the regional tourism sector, be equipped to adequately prepare for, respond to and recover from climate related hazards. We applaud this initiative of the CTO to provide industry stakeholders with updated information and tools to enhance knowledge and preparedness,” said Joy Jibrilu, Director General, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, in her opening remarks.

The workshops target tourism practitioners and decision makers from the public and private sectors, as well as representatives from key ancillary sectors, including tour operators, sites and attractions, physical planners, conservation organizations and disaster management agencies, among others.

The trainings begin on September 25th with a one day Sector Consultation and Validation Workshop on the updating of the Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework. This will be followed by training on the updated Disaster Risk Management Manual for the Caribbean Tourism Sector as well as a Training of Trainers Workshop, from September 26-28th.  The trainings culminate with a Regional Workshop on October 1st and 2nd, 2018, which will convene the Hotel and Tourism Association Executives and Officials from the Tourism Boards/Authorities from CTO member countries, to enhance awareness and subsequent utilization of the updated manuals and tools.

The activities in The Bahamans form part of the ‘Supporting a Climate Smart and Sustainable Caribbean Tourism Industry (CSSCTI)’ project being implemented by the CTO, with assistance from the Caribbean Development Bank through the African Caribbean Pacific Group and the European Union funded Natural Disaster Risk Management (NDRM) programme for CARIFORUM countries.

In addition to the update of the Caribbean Sustainable Tourism Policy Framework and  Disaster Management Manual for the Caribbean Tourism Sector, the CSSCTI project also includes a regional tourism education and awareness campaign delivered through social media engagement and a televised documentary series; producing a compendium of Best Practices in Sustainable Tourism; and a feasibility study to inform the needs related to climate services in tourism.


“Given the vulnerability of the tourism sector to climate disruptions and related events, the CTO is committed to playing a leading role in advocating for the implementation of measures to adapt to and mitigate this phenomenon. As we move towards realising the vision of an industry that is climate smart and resilient, we must make every effort to reduce the risks of climate change and related hazards by effecting the necessary policies and taking proactive measures,” said Hugh Riley, CTO’s Secretary General and CEO.

The CTO is grateful to the Caribbean Development Bank and our regional development partners the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, Caribbean Institute for Metrology and Hydrology, and the Commonwealth of Learning for their support and technical assistance in implementing this initiative. 




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