Dominica: Sylvanie Burton, the Head of State, and the Chief, Lorenzo Sanford, shared their plans for making the island nation of Dominica the first climate-resilient nation around the globe in their latest media conversation.

It is needed to be noted that the two belong to the Kalinago community which is an indigenous group to the island of Dominica and the Caribbean region. Sylvanie Burton is the first Kalinago and also the first woman, who gained the position of Head of State. On the other hand, Lorenzo Sanford is the youngest appointed chief of the Kalinago community.

Lorenzo Sanford said in his statement while addressing the questions on his being the youngest in the position, that the community is majorly populated by youngsters and young people need more opportunities to make the necessary changes.

Sylvanie Burton added to his statement that one needs authority in their personality and mindset to become a chief and lead people, and Lorenzo Sanford has those qualities. She said that there is around sixty-five percent of the population of the young generation in the community and they must be heard.

The intention of making Dominica a climate-resilient nation became their objective due to observing the destruction caused by the natural hazards and the footprint left by them after the incident. They have personally suffered from issues like this and seen people around them helpless in situations of disasters.

In their words, they mentioned about the time their community suffered from the hurricane which caused lots of destruction. They mentioned that what was their situation at the time of the disaster and how helpless they were at the time. They were praying to god for help.

It is said that their community managed to survive the natural disaster and lost no members. Anyhow it took a long to recover from the damages caused by the hurricane disaster. This inspired them to lead their lives not just to serve the society of Dominica but to make it better and more resilient.

In the process of making Dominica climate-resilient, they mentioned about the projects that are being implemented in the field among which the major step is to provide better homes to the people. They highlighted that the houses will be stronger to protect the residents, while they still be made in Kalinago style.

With this, there are also plans to make large and multipurpose shelters for the community that could serve in times of disaster. Anyhow, the main objective of the authorities is to make people feel safe in their homes under diverse conditions.

They also mentioned about the same issue that is faced by the people of other neighbouring island nations in the Caribbean region other than Dominica. They commented that the issue can only be solved by taking necessary steps in that direction. The authorities of those nations also needed to take strong steps on the ground to make expected changes.