Weather, climate, and water-related disasters are becoming more frequent and more intense because of climate change.

In Suriname, we had extensive rainfall and flooding in 2021, and unfortunately, again since the beginning of 2022. The flooding is experienced in both coastal areas and in the hinterland of Suriname and has negatively impacted, infrastructure, crop production, other economic activities and therefore also lives and livelihoods.

Together with the Government of Suriname the GCCA+ Phase 2 Project is working on capacity building to ensure that laws, policies, and institutions are strengthened to adequately assess and manage disaster risk and assist in the establishment of early warning systems.

To support the Nickerie community, the GCCA+ Phase 2 Project, funded by the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Suriname, handed over an aluminum boat to the District Commissioner of Nickerie on Friday 20^th May 2022.  The handover of the boat also included an outboard motor, and additional gear such as life jackets, lifebuoy, an anchor and a total of 40 related personal protective equipment (PPE).

The boat will enable the District Commissioner’s Office of Nickerie to execute more frequent inspections of primary and secondary canals and to perform the maintenance of tertiary canals. Inspections take place to identify risk and prevent the clogging of the drainage waterways which can lead to flooding as well as a reduced irrigation capacity of canals.

The District Commissioner has pledged to install a special technical team to detect and resolve issues in a timely manner.