CCRIF Grant To Help Belize Improve Extreme Rainfall Warning System

CCRIF SPC has provided a grant to the government of Belize to enhance its early warning systems for extreme rainfall events.

With this latest grant of $43,140, CCRIF has provided Belize with $143,000 since 2017 to support the country's purchase and installation of automatic weather stations. Belize now has 52 working weather stations with high-quality rain gauges, making the country one of the best equipped in the Caribbean in terms of its national rainfall monitoring network coverage, a CCRIF statement said.

CCRIF said that according to an analysis conducted by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) with support from CCRIF, Belize's network now provides 70 percent of what would be optimal coverage. CIMH recommended 10 additional rainfall stations be installed in Belize, given the country's size and topography.

The latest grant will be used to install air temperature sensors on Belize's 52 weather stations, enclosures for the sensors, additional rain gauges, and protective "bird spikes" for all the gauges. The addition of the air temperature sensors will contribute to increasing the number of weather and climate variables that can be monitored by the National Meteorological Service of Belize.

The weather stations provide real-time data to the meteorological service, which then allows forecasters and meteorologists to monitor and provide alerts to the population prior to severe weather events. CCRIF said the weather stations play a key role in strengthening the capacity of the country's early warning systems, enabling the meteorological service and other agencies to engage in better planning for climate change and disaster risk management.

Previously known as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company, CCRIF SPC is a segregated portfolio company that is owned, operated, and registered in the Caribbean. It limits the financial impact of such disasters as catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes, and excess rainfall events on the Caribbean and Central American governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.

CCRIF SPC was developed under the technical leadership of the World Bank and with a grant from the government of Japan. It was capitalized through contributions to a multidonor trust fund by the government of Canada, European Union, World Bank, governments of the United Kingdom and France, Caribbean Development Bank, and governments of Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating governments.

The government of Belize has been a member of CCRIF since the facility was formed in 2007.