The Clinton Foundation is launching a new action network on post-disaster recovery in the Caribbean, aiming to tackle long-term challenges that climate change is wreaking on vulnerable small islands such as Puerto Rico and Dominica.

Speaking with more than 90 nonprofit, business, philanthropic, and government representatives, Former United States President Bill Clinton addressed the need for innovative planning and partnership in a region that will continue to be battered by climate change’s rippled effects.

The action network, formed at the invitation of the governments of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica, will formally convene for its first open meeting April 3 at the University of Miami. There, its members will work to develop commitments to action, as per the Clinton Global Initiative model that stresses cross-sector collaboration and mobilization of resources.

These kinds of responses to large natural disasters require multifaceted responses engaging actors from government, civil society, and the private sector. They just do. They are significant — the breadth and depth of issues like this — essentially requires all hands on deck.

The action network is focusing on five areas of recovery: Energy, infrastructure, health, education, and economic development.  About 60 percent of Dominica’s population is still without power.  And in Puerto Rico, 1.2 million people — or about a third of the island — remain without power.

Read the full article about the Clinton Foundation action network by Amy Leiberman at Devex.