UN ready to help

UNDP Resident Representative, Stephen O’Malley,
is ready to work on the issues affecting the region.

SEVERAL challenges continue to confront Grenada and the wider region, and the United Nations remains committed to helping us tackle these issues.

This was the assurance given by new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Stephen O’Malley, who held a press briefing last week Thursday.

On the matter of disaster preparedness, he has already hit the ground running, having already met with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

“(On Wednesday) we were involved with meetings that we had organised with CDEMA and the International Telecommunications Union, where what we are doing is bringing together professionals from across the region and outside to look particularly at how we can use information communications technologies to better prepare for and respond to disasters. How we can use for example SMS to let people know that there is a heightened risk due to a hurricane,” he outlined.

Touching on the topic of climate change, he emphasised that the UN would continue to work with governments of small island developing states to help mitigate its impact.

“What we would like to do is as much as possible support the governments, the people of ... the region to be as prepared as possible for the effects of climate change, to mitigate those effects where possible, to reduce the risks related to natural disasters and other phenomena. So we have a number of programmes that are already ongoing to bolster the capacity of national governments and regional entities to do that,” he told the media gathered at the United Nations House.

O’Malley has replaced Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, who ended her five-year tenure earlier this year. (JMB)