Latin America & the Caribbean

In Latin America, GIDRM II cooperated with the Latin American Network of National Systems of Public Investment (Red SNIP). GIDRM supported the SNIP Network’s commitment to consider disaster risk management as a core topic in the region, relevant and necessary to be considered for reducing costs when hazards emerge or a disaster strikes in a context of climate change and to achieve sustainable development. In supporting the Red SNIP in regard to coherent disaster risk management and climate change adaptation consideration, GIDRM focused on encouraging more sustainable and resilient public investments.

Within the framework of cooperating in the Red SNIP, a peer-to-peer exchange between Costa Rica, Mexico and Chile was facilitated to support Mexico with the development of a coherent approach for DRM in public investments. Furthermore, the three countries identified criteria to assess the criticality of transport infrastructure considering security and disaster risk factors as well as the developmental relevance. By combining the approaches of disaster risk managements and criticality, a decision-making tool for public investments was developed focusing on highway infrastructure. The purpose of identifying critical highways is to assure nationwide connectivity. Every road needs to be assessed regarding its physical, functional and social criticality. Critical routes are understood to be those whose failure would significantly affect the network’s connectivity. This assessment allows for prioritization of those highways that require more or faster attention (efficiency and response speed when assigning resources). This way, investments can be made to overcome the risk gap and place the project below the acceptable risk threshold. The tool was reviewed in Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico.

In May 2019 GIDRM supported the annual meeting of the Red SNIP in the Dominican Republic as a part of the technical secretariat. There, Mexico presented its coherence approach regarding the fields of disaster risk management and public investments. Through the development of a Guidebook for Public Investments with relevant examples from Latin America and the Caribbean, the topic of coherence is to be further strengthened within the regions. The guidebook is covering examples from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Chile and will be released in 2021.

In Latin America, GIDRM II worked with the following international and regional partners among others: the Latin American Network of National Systems of Public Investment (Red SNIP), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the American Statistical Conference (CEA) and the Open-ended Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on Indicators and Terminology Related to Disaster Risk Reduction (OIEWG).