The 2019 Capital Budget shows a total of over $56 million allocated to the functional classification “Environmental Protection.”
This is the second-largest capital allocation in the Budget. However, Climate Change-related adaptation, mitigation and reconstruction accounts for over $82 million,24 or 37% of our capital budget allocation. Within the constraints of our capital and capacity, this is a remarkable commitment to climate resilience.
Our Contingency Fund is now just over one year old. We are pleased to report that, as of December 2018, we have saved $12.6 million in this Fund for disaster-related contingencies. Never before in the history of independent Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have we managed to explicitly set aside such resources for a rainy day.
In 2019, funded by an ongoing 1% disaster levy on consumption, and supplemented by the modest nightly Climate Resilience Levy on visitor accommodations, we anticipate that the Contingency Fund will receive an additional $12.5 million. While this number remains small in the face of the multi-billion potential of a major natural disaster, it is nonetheless significant.
If we are blessed with continued good fortune, in the near term, the Contingency Fund will be a reliable, home-grown cushion against natural disasters. The Fund will also stand as an important signal to the international community that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is committed to playing a leading role in our own disaster preparation and recovery.
This year, in anticipation of continued growth in the Contingency Fund, we will elaborate a set of rules and procedures governing the access and management of the Fund’s resources.
The Natural Disaster Management (NDM) and the Regional Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (RDVRP) are two multiyear programmes, funded in the main by the Caribbean Development Bank and the World Bank, through which we shall spend over $47 million in reconstruction, rehabilitation and resilience works this year.
They are essential in our adaptation efforts to make Saint Vincent and the Grenadines stronger in the face of future climate threats.
