EU EARMARKS 130 MILLION EUROS IN HUMANITARIAN AID FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
By Ane Barcos / Aquí Europa
The European Commission has allocated nearly €130 million in 2024 earmarked to address the needs of the most vulnerable people affected by ongoing crises.
The funding includes a recently approved €1 million grant to mitigate the consequences of the floods in Brazil that have affected 90% of the territory of Rio Grande do Sul.
In addition to emergency response, part of this funding will be dedicated to strengthening disaster preparedness, considering the increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards due to climate change in the region.
Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic is visiting Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, where he is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with several regional organizations and governments to increase cooperation in disaster risk management between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Lenarnic noted that with specific allocations to support disaster preparedness, the EU continues its long-standing partnership with the region in this field and said he was convinced that the signing of the new MoU “will serve to further strengthen this cooperation, making the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean better prepared and more resilient to future disasters.”
The Memorandum of Understanding is co-sponsored by the European Union, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the government of Barbados. It brings together the EU and the Latin American and Caribbean region through various organizations, such as CDEMA, CEPREDENAC, MERCOSUR and SGCAN, along with Chile, Cuba and Mexico.
The largest allocation is for Venezuela, with almost EUR 50 million, mainly to address the protracted humanitarian crisis in the country and its regional impacts.
Colombia is allocated EUR 11 million for humanitarian aid and EUR 5 million for disaster preparedness. For the rest of South America, funding amounts to EUR 22 million, with EUR 14 million for humanitarian needs, including forced displacement, and EUR 8 million for disaster preparedness.
In Central America, 17 million euros are earmarked for responding to humanitarian crises arising from violence and displacement, plus an additional 1 million for disaster preparedness.
The Community Executive has allocated 20 million euros in humanitarian aid for Haiti, and more than one million euros for the rest of the Caribbean, mainly in response to migratory flows and disaster preparedness. 1.5 million will be allocated to respond to the outbreak of dengue fever in Central and South America.
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This article was originally published in Aquí Europa, with whose permission we reproduce it.
