CDEMA launched the 14th Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management in Georgetown, guyana, on Tuesday, bringing regional disaster planners together under a theme built around resilience. Guyana’s Prime Minister Mark Phillips used the launch to argue that the Caribbean is facing overlapping pressures that now reach far beyond emergency response.
Phillips said the region is contending with climate volatility, economic shocks, infrastructure vulnerabilities, public health threats, supply chain disruptions, and rapidly evolving technological and security risks. He added that CDM 14 is scheduled to take place in Guyana from December 7-12.
Phillips links resilience to Guyana
At the ceremonial launch, Phillips said: “These pressures, most times, overlap and compound, testing governments’ capacity to respond within ever shorter windows of time,” and added: “For much of our history, disaster management was treated as a function that only activated after an event occurred. That understanding is no longer adequate to the world we govern.” He said resilience now sits at the centre of how a country is run and touches the economy, infrastructure, security, and long-term development.
Phillips also tied the conference to Guyana’s own development path. “Our economy is expanding, and our energy sector is growing,” he said, while noting that much of Guyana’s population and economic life is centred along the coast, where the effects of a serious hazard would be felt most acutely. He said Guyana is building new infrastructure and expanding its energy capacity.
CDM 14 strategic direction
CDEMA said the launch event will formally introduce the strategic direction, partnership framework, and regional priorities shaping CDM 14. The conference will be held under the theme “CDM Road to Resilience – Checkpoint 2026: Resilient Sectors, Sustainable Communities, Safer States.”
Elizabeth Riley, CDEMA’s executive director, was present at the launch. Her appearance placed the agency’s regional coordination role alongside Guyana’s national push to connect resilience planning with development and the country’s expanding coastal economy.
For Guyana, the practical signal from Tuesday’s launch is that disaster planning is being tied to the same infrastructure and energy buildout that Phillips described. CDM 14 now has a date, a location, and a stated framework, and the next step is the December gathering in Georgetown, where the region’s priorities will be set in public.
