BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC)—Former executive director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Ronald Jackson, has been appointed to head the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team in Geneva.
Last week, CDEMA announced that the Jamaican-born Jackson was leaving his post after seven years and Barbados Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, in a statement, congratulating Elizabeth Riley, who has been appointed to act as executive director, thanked Jackson for his work.
“We are certain that he (Ronald Jackson) will from his international position continue to advance the agenda of our Caricom small island developing states, in an era of heightened risk of natural disasters as well as of climate change phenomenon, which is not of our creation,” Hinkson said.
He said CDEMA’S importance to the region is greater now than it ever was in its earlier history.
“All of our Caricom member nations are fully engaged in our fight to address our fragility to adverse weather conditions and to confront for one half of each year the reality of a hurricane season, in circumstances whereby in a few hours more than the total gross domestic product of any of our islands can be obliterated and socio-economic and psychological trauma can be brought onto our people.”
In congratulating Riley, a Barbadian national, Hinkson said Barbados was looking “forward to our continued mutually beneficial relationship with the agency.” following Jackson’s departure.
Riley, whose appointment became effective from May 1, has more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of disaster and environmental management. She has been the organisation’s deputy director for the last eight years.
Source: The Jamaica Observerhttp://www.jamaicaobserver.com/
