Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP)

Following hurricane Maria in 2017, with estimated damage of 226 percent of GDP, there was a significant increase in public investment to rebuild public infrastructure resilient to natural disasters, financed mainly with Citizenship by Investment (CBI) revenues. In addition, the government developed a strategy for disaster preparedness and response with itemized investments and policies and estimates of resource requirements. The Covid-19 pandemic caused significant economic and social hardship owing to Dominica's dependence on tourism receipts, which plummeted in the wake of the pandemic leading to a sharp decline in tax revenues. At the same time, Dominica was forced to increase and reprioritize public spending to address immediate health needs and make transfers to the unemployed. As a result, the fiscal and debt situations came under further strain leading to changes in plans and priorities, because of which a draft DRS prepared just ahead of COVID-19 had to be modified.

Disaster Resilience Strategy (DRS) is an umbrella document, which draws upon existing government plans and proposals, elaborating a strategy for Dominica to build resilience against natural disasters that is integrated into a credible macro-fiscal framework. It is organized around three pillars: structural resilience, financial resilience and post-disaster resilience. The total cost of transforming Dominica into a disaster-resilient state over a twenty-year period is estimated at US$2.8 billion (five times Dominica's GDP). Model-based estimates calibrated to the Dominica economy indicate that the return to resilient investment outweigh the cost in the long term by supporting higher private investment and employment. However, debt would increase in the medium term as the cost of resilient investments and policies accrue up-front, but returns materialize only in the medium to long-term with a gradual increase in resiliency, which in the DRS takes two decades.

Read the entire Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP) (PDF, 11.1 MB) document.

You may also read the Annex - Climate Resilience and Recovery Plan (CRRP) Dominica: Disaster Resilience Strategy (PDF, 772 KB).

Posted: 05/07/2021
Updated: 12/07/2021