Report

World Bank
Global Facility For Disaster Reduction And Recovery
SOPAC

February 24, 2010

REDUCING THE RISK OF DISASTER AND CLIMATE VULNERABILITY IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS [Source website: http://go.worldbank.org/TDK524WI50]

Pacific island countries are among the world's most vulnerable to natural disasters. Looking forward, the focus now needs to be on risk reduction rather than post-disaster recovery and response.

In many Pacific island countries it is becoming clear that, in spite of several promising starts, sustainable and systematic risk reduction—on other than an ad hoc basis—will not occur without stronger government commitment and efforts at the policy and regulatory levels. As such, there is a need to promote in-country government arrangements demanding risk reduction considerations across all sectors, and promoting community-based, risk reduction initiatives through provincial and local government, and through civil society and all stakeholder groups.

The conventional view of climate change adaptation has typically been “top-down”, a process in which the challenge is to anticipate and adjust to gradual changes in average climate; this conventional view has given way to an emerging perspective that climate change adaptation involves a dynamic process of adjusting to additional risks posed by changes in climate and sea level over time.

Today, it is increasingly evident that while the driving forces of climate change are global, adaptation is largely local. Moreover, at this scale, information about the average changes in climate is by itself not as important as how climate variability and extremes may change locally and thus contribute to the risks—from droughts, floods, cyclones—already faced by nations and communities. It is also clear that adaptation must go beyond such overt actions as building a sea wall or changing farming practices. It is a complex, dynamic process that includes awareness raising, capacity building, mainstreaming into development plans, acquiring knowledge and data, and assessing risk at all levels.

Further, despite scientific advances and improved data collection and analytical skills, the traditional focus on disaster preparedness and response has clearly not been sufficient to deal with the increasing amount of losses and impacts. Especially for developing countries, disaster losses that exceed 10 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) were having serious adverse impact on already fragile development programs, most particularly in small island developing states. Comparatively, disaster losses seldom approach 1 percent of GDP in industrialised countries.

While there is evidence of policy development and planning in most Pacific island countries, in-country capacity, institutional arrangements, and information remain major constraints, and risk reduction action on the ground remains elusive despite major efforts by donor and stakeholder institutions at both the national as well as regional levels.