THE WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AGENCY WORKS TO MITIGATE THE IMPACTS OF WEATHER AND CLIMATE EXTREMES.

In an effort to combat weather and climate shocks, such as droughts and floods, the Water Resource Management Agency and the Saint Lucia Meteorological Services have engaged hydro meteorological engineering companies to update the existing stations in Saint Lucia with the aim of increasing the capacity for data analysis.

The upgrading of the stations will enable Saint Lucia to improve its technical capacities, allowing it to better calibrate and integrate flood warning systems, improve numerical weather prediction use and forecasts, and have an overall quality management system.

According to the Director of the Water Resource Management Agency (WRMA), Jason Ernest, the month-long intervention is critical in ensuring better forecasting of a drought or flood, allowing communities, particularly farmers, to better prepare and reduce some of their economic and material losses.

The WRMA currently manages 25 stations on the island. Mr. Ernest said the staff of the WRMA has undergone several training sessions in maintaining hydro meteorological networks.

Mr. Ernest emphasizes the importance of ensuring early flood warning detection to better assist farmers with preparedness as the Ministry of Agriculture continues to mitigate the effects of climate change on the Saint Lucian economy.