As experts from across the region gather in Grenada for the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum and a special media training on climate communication, the setting couldn’t be more symbolic. Grenada is still picking up the pieces after Hurricane Beryl tore through the island in July 2024, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. Now, with the 2025 hurricane season fast approaching, the big question is: is Grenada ready? News Five’s Benita Keme Palacio sat down with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to talk about the country’s recovery efforts and how it’s preparing for what could be another active season.
Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister, Grenada
“We have I would say, done a better job, we had a pretty devastating hurricane in 2004. We learned a lot of lessons since then, and so I think we were far better prepared to handle Hurricane Beryl, thankfully. It was mostly the northern part of Grenada and Carriacou and Petite Martinique. But, having said that, I think there are a number of things that we have become better at; financial resilience is one of those. We’ve been able to, over the years, pay for parametric insurance, which allows us to mitigate a lot of the financial losses that we have suffered as a result of Hurricane Beryl. We also purchased insurance for our farmers, so we’ve been able to help them, including some of our fishermen. In that regard, we’ve done well. We also have built into our debt instruments hurricane suspension clauses, which allow us to suspend debt payments to our creditors in the event they need the cash flow to finance the recovery and the rebuilding in the aftermath of natural disasters. In that sense, we have institutionalized financial resilience to address the loss, damage, and consequences of climatic events. Behavior-wise, I think there’s a lot of work to be done, and from an energy perspective, we are still not where we need to be in terms of having more renewable and non-carbon-type energy into the mix.”
The scars of Hurricane Beryl still linger within the country, but PM Mitchell says the country is better positioned to face what’s ahead. The Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) officially opens tomorrow, and as we mention we have a team in Grenada and we’ll have more on the forum on Thursday’s newscast.