Belize comes together to improve how disaster losses and damages are tracked and monitored

When disasters strike in Belize, the full picture of their impacts on people, livelihoods, infrastructure, and the environment can be difficult to capture. Recognizing this challenge, national institutions came together to explore how quality data, accompanied by better data governance, shared standards, and coordination can help the country more consistently record hazardous events and their associated losses and damages. The discussion centered on how improved information can support prevention, preparedness, response and recovery through evidence-based decision making, risk informed investments, and a better national reporting to global agendas such as the Sendai Framework, the SDGs and the Global Goal on Adaptation.

With technical guidance from UNDRR and in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), key national institutions came together, including the Department of the Environment, the National Meteorological Service, the National Climate Change Office, the Belize Agricultural Health Authority, and the University of Belize, to discuss how to strengthen the way disaster losses and damages are documented, tracked and shared across the country.

As part of these discussions, participants were introduced to the DELTA Resilience, an improved tool to register and monitor losses and damages, jointly developed by UNDRR, WMO and UNDP. DELTA Resilience supports countries by offering updated methodologies, common standards, and practical functionalities for tracking both hazardous events and their impacts. Rather than prescribing a system, the tool was presented to help institutions better understand what approaches and technologies are available to strengthen disaster loss and damage monitoring, and how these can complement existing national practices.

Improving historical impact records reinforces national efforts to strengthen probabilistic hazard and risk assessments, setting thresholds for early warning systems, informing resilient recovery processes, and overall preparedness. As the UN Resident Coordinator emphasized, “No model is better than the data that supports it.” Stronger loss and damage information contributes directly to Belize’s progress in advancing inclusive, multihazard early warning systems under the Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative.  

At the heart of the shift is the recognition that disasters do not affect everyone equally. Disaggregated data, by geography, sector, sex, age, disability, helps reveal who is most at risk. As Capt. Daniel Mendez, National Emergency Coordinator at NEMO, emphasized, “Keeping track of hazardous events and the losses and damages they cause gives us the evidence to prioritize where preparedness, response, and recovery investments are most needed.” Tracking losses at this level helps the country make decisions rooted in real impacts rather than assumptions.

Equally important is the collaborative approach behind this work. While NEMO leads the disaster risk management system in Belize, it extends far beyond the NEMO Secretariat alone; it relies on many institutions working together, from technical agencies and environmental and climate authorities to academic institutions and local experts. Disaster risk reduction is a shared responsibility, and each institution holds a unique piece of the country’s disaster risk data landscape. Bringing these actors together supports the development of a more coherent national picture of loss and damage. Shared systems reduce duplication, improve data quality, and strengthen coordination across ministries. This also supports Belize’s reporting to global frameworks such as the Sendai Framework, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Global Goal on Adaptation, using information that already exists across national institutions.

A more complete picture of losses, including noneconomic and also those triggered by slow onset events, also supports access to climate and resilience financing. The country’s Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) Policy and Implementation Plan highlights the importance of clear, documented evidence of disaster impacts to justify investments in preparedness, adaptation, and recovery. Better data helps Belize make stronger cases for support through loss and damage finance, adaptation funding, and risk‑transfer and insurance mechanisms. As Capt. Mendez underlined, robust databases “allow us to identify systemic vulnerabilities across sectors and geographies,” helping Belize anticipate cascading risks rather than simply react to them.

Sustaining this shift requires ongoing political commitment and strong governance. Keeping a national loss and damage database up to date, clarifying institutional roles, and consistently logging every event (large or small) are key steps toward strengthening prevention and preparedness. The UN Resident Coordinator highlighted how this effort also improves data governance overall, creating a shared evidence base that supports decision-making, planning, and resource allocation.

Tracking losses ensures the country learns from each event and uses that knowledge to protect lives, livelihoods, and development gains. In the words of the Resident Coordinator, “for disaster risk to be managed, it must first be understood, and for this, measuring is a mandatory step.” Belize is making that step, and in doing so, is better equipped to safeguard what matters most.

This work is also supported by initiatives that help strengthen resilience across the Caribbean. The European Union–Caribbean Resilience Programme (EU-CA-RES) is a $10 million initiative designed to strengthen the region’s resilience to the impacts of crisis, including those caused by climate change. It does so by increasing the coverage and adequacy of shock-responsive, gender-inclusive social protection schemes, and accelerating the recovery capacities of the most vulnerable. Implemented jointly by the European Union, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, and UNDRR, the initiative works to ensure that when the next emergency occurs, its impacts will be less severe and recovery processes will be more effective and efficient, thereby reducing loss and suffering.

This effort is part of the broader Belize Inclusive Resilience in Safe and SMART Spaces Joint Programme, supported by the UN Joint SDG Fund; the EU-CA-RES programme, supported by the European Union: and the Strengthening Enabling Environment for Strengthening Multi Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in Belize, supported by the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative.