Resilience Expert: Natural disasters present opportunities for development

Natural disasters present an opportunity for sustainable development, says Professor Mark Pelling of King’s College London. Delivering the 19th William G. Demas Memorial Lecture on May 29 in Grenada, the resilience expert argued that although generally unwelcome, disasters provide focus and momentum to address previously existing development gaps.

“Addressing disaster through risk reduction and post-disaster response surfaces unmet development failures that have lain, accumulating over time,” said Pelling.

“I want to argue that wherever disaster management work is placed outside everyday development policy and practice there is a missed opportunity for sustainable development,” he added.

The Lecture took place ahead of the official opening of the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). Pelling, who spoke on the topic, “From Social Resilience to Survivor-Led Reconstruction” joined a distinguished roster of speakers who have delivered the Lecture, which is part of the agenda of the CDB Annual Meeting.

Read more at: Caribbean Development Bank