The Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (Agriculture) convened on October 9, 2008 in St. Vincent & the Grenadines noted the efforts to maximize efficiencies in advancing DRM in the Agriculture Sector through the integration of the Jagdeo Initiative constraint of inadequate risk mitigation and the CDERA-led Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy (CDM). The official name of the Committee is the Agriculture Disaster Risk Management Committee (ASSC/TMAC).
The committee agreed on the following functions for the ASSC/TMAC:
- Recommend broad policies for addressing the deficient and uncoordinated risk management measures existing in the region, including praedial larceny & provide overall guidance at the agriculture sector level to facilitate the mainstreaming of CDM at the national & regional levels
- Initiate and promote new ideas, methods and instruments aimed at addressing the constraint while articulating and advancing the priority CDM results for the sector
- Coordinate the Annual Work Programme, including the operational budget and lead the process in securing the necessary resources for the execution of the work programme
- Coordinate major policy and/or structural and operational changes related to the execution of the work programme
- Provide technical and managerial direction and support to the lead agency in the implementation of the work programme
- Discuss and address any other issues pertinent to the overall objective
- Identify opportunities for inter and intra sectoral linkages to avoid duplication of work and ensure efforts are complimentary
- Agree on and utilize a mechanism for monitoring, evaluating and reporting on the work programme of the Committee
- Provide timely reports to the COTED and CDM CHC and other relevant institutions through the Chair and Lead Agency respectively on the performance and levels of compliance with targets and procedures agreed upon, identifying challenges and gaps in achieving the prioritized results of the interventions
- Assess results and recommend future broad direction for the alleviation of the constraint
The Committee Members are:
- Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and Environment of Antigua & Barbuda - Chair
- United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) – Lead Agency
- Inter- American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
- Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC)
- Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI)
- CARICOM Secretariat
- Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC)
- Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH)
- University of the West Indies Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES)
- Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM)
- Caribbean Farmers Network (CaFAN)
- Some form of representation from the Insurance Sector
- Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute (CFNI)
- Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
Adhoc Members are:
- National Technical Representative from Haiti
- National Technical Representative from Cuba
- Caribbean Network of Fisher Folk Organizations
- Antigua & Barbuda National Office for Disaster Services (NODS)
- Caribbean Coordinating Organization for the Red Cross (CCORC)
- World Food Programme (WFP)
- Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI)