Latin America and the Caribbean: EU strengthens disaster preparedness cooperation and releases €43 million aid fund

Commissioner Janez Lenarčič is announcing the release of €43 million in humanitarian aid for the whole Latin American and Caribbean region in 2023. The announcement will be made at the event ‘Disaster preparedness saves lives’, co-hosted by the EU and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), during the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Forum, a key milestone ahead of the EU-CELAC Summit 2023 taking place on 17 and 18 July.

The ‘Disaster Preparedness saves lives’ event brings together representatives from the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean countries, UN and civil society organisations, intergovernmental agencies and disaster management bodies, among others. The gathering provides a unique platform to enhance cooperation and showcase the evolution of the disaster preparedness and emergency response in the region, as well as the opportunity to share key achievements and lessons learnt.

EU disaster preparedness in the region

The devastating impact of natural hazards in Latin America and the Caribbean requires integration of disaster risk reduction into all policies, plans and investments. Overlapping emergencies, exacerbated by the impact of climate change, are resulting in a complex humanitarian situation in the region.

Since 1994, under its disaster preparedness programme, the EU has invested over €344 million through 640 projects, reaching 30 million people, involving Governments in the region and a great diversity of organisations and partners. Disaster preparedness projects supported by the EU reinforce the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

On the 2023 funding

The EU funding released for 2023 aims to address urgent humanitarian needs across the region, among which those resulting from the Venezuelan crisis, food insecurity, exposure to natural hazards, transcontinental migration as well as the consequences of pervasive violence, conflict and displacement. Some €13.5 million from the total fund are destined to implement and strengthen disaster preparedness programmes in the region and around €13 million are allocated in the framework of the Programmatic Partnership between the EU and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The released fund adds to the allocations earmarked earlier in 2023 of €11 million for Central America and Mexico, and €75 million for Venezuela, on the occasion of the ‘International Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants and their Host Countries and Communities’.

So far in 2023, the humanitarian budget allocated for the region amounts to around €130 million.