The United National Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has indicated that 90% of natural disasters are water-related. By 2050, rising populations in flood prone lands, climate change, deforestation, loss of wetlands and rising sea levels are expected to increase the number of people vulnerable to flood disaster to approximately two billion.
In the Trinidad and Tobago and by extension the Caribbean, flood risk management is a relatively new concept, and the knowledge surrounding the management and mitigation of flood risk management is, unfortunately, in its infancy stages.
Noting this gap, Cap-Net UNDP and Caribbean WaterNet hosted an Integrated Urban Flood Risk Mitigation and Management Workshop in collaboration with the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) at the Chaguanas Campus on 13–15 August 2018. The aim of the workshop was to sensitize and provide industry professionals with the information and tools to build management capacity of participants regarding water resources.
