SMALL ISLAND STATES RESILIENCE INITIATIVE Small Islands, Big Challenges What We Do Small island states face some of the greatest vulnerabilities of any nations due to climate SISRI is helping small island states build larger pipelines of resilience change and natural disasters – but the threats investments to withstand the can be reduced through adequate investment, impacts of climate change – from safeguarding coastal areas to technical expertise and hands-on support. building safety nets that protect Through its Small Island States Resilience citizens after disaster strikes. Initiative (SISRI), GFDRR is helping step up the rate of progress to safeguard these unique It offers just-in-time, expert environments from climate impacts such as assistance on flood and landslide sea-level rise, storm events and droughts. risk assessment, safer infrastructure, social and financial safety nets, SISRI is providing technical support, building and implementation capacity. a community of practice, and helping island nations harness predictable and long-term Through a global community funding to ensure their resilience. of practice, SISRI links island practitioners with one another, and with global knowledge on building resilience. OVER 60% $3 BILLION 35 of countries with the highest in damages and 9 million people or more resilience projects losses from disaster events are affected by natural disasters underway in some island nations, small island states – with damages in the Pacific Islands in the last most valued at $200,000 or less. of up to 9% of GDP. half century. Reducing fragmentation and boosting efficiency can build resilience. APPROACH EFFICIENT INVESTMENT FLOWS SISRI is helping small island states map the complex island nations address project bottlenecks and start new landscape of climate finance assistance and increase investments. For example, SISRI is helping the Marshall both the scale and efficiency of their investments. A Islands, Jamaica, and São Tomé and Príncipe to safeguard joint SISRI-Organization for Economic Co-operation vulnerable coastal zones through optimally combining “gray” and Development (OECD) analysis found that, though coastal defense structures, such as sea-walls, with “green” concessional donor funding for resilience nearly doubled interventions, such as mangrove restoration. from 2011 to 2014, reaching $1.01 billion, it remained highly fragmented with high transaction costs. SISRI is helping small island states to scale up and consolidate KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE SISRI is bringing leading practitioners from island nations their resilience investments, moving from less together to share experiences that worked in their countries. significant, isolated projects toward national programs Face-to-face dialogues, such as the first SISRI Workshop in that deliver results at scale. May 2016 that brought together leading practitioners from 22 countries, are complemented by a Knowledge Notes series TECHNICAL AND OPERATIONAL that captures project insights (see box). SUPPORT SISRI provides on-the-ground support by drawing on an expanded GFDRR and World Bank team. This expert community is deployed on a just-in-time basis to help Sharing Expertise and Good Practice: SISRI Knowledge Notes SISRI Knowledge Notes provide practical insights on the key building blocks for resilience in small island states. The notes draw on the expertise of technical specialists at the World Bank, as well as partner institutions such as Deltares, University of Tokyo, and the OECD (see right). SISRI’S KNOWLEDGE NOTES Technical Specialist Partner Expertise Institutions 2 Pioneering Analysis to Track Funding to Small Island States Small island states face a complex and fragmented widespread, with some countries managing 35 or more landscape of climate financing, which frequently proves resilience projects in a given year. Between 2011 and 2014, hard to access. Mapping out the availability of these climate and disaster resilience was financed through a resources is critical to reducing administrative burden, total of 1,715 projects. cutting transaction costs, and achieving more per dollar. The report highlights potential A new report from GFDRR and the OECD, titled Climate actions by donors to de- and Disaster Resilience Financing in Small Island fragment their assistance, as Developing States, found that financing is dominated well as positive steps that small by infrastructure projects in a handful of upper middle- island states are increasingly income countries. The remainder is divided across a large taking – from greater use of number of projects that reduce efficiency and overstretch country systems to pooling the countries’ limited administrative capacity. resources behind national resilience programs. The findings were discussed at the World Bank Small States Those valued at $200,000 or less comprised more than Forum and are expected to contribute to OECD discussion half of the total projects, yet contributed only 2% of on the aid architecture for small island states. total funding. This proliferation of small initiatives is Securing Communities in São Tomé Located off the Western coast of Africa, São Tomé and Príncipe has a population of nearly 200,000, most of which COMBINED RISK MAP, lives in coastal areas. Uncontrolled expansion of housing SHOWING FOOTPRINTS OF BUILDINGS, THE near beachfronts has exacerbated the vulnerability of ESTIMATED EFFECT OF communities as climate change drives increased flooding THE STORM SURGE AND and coastal erosion. RIVER FLOODING BY In response, SISRI is supporting a government effort to 2050 FOR MALANZA, manage a voluntary population retreat to safer, higher SÃO TOMÉ ground. The first step was determining the pattern of coastline change by comparing maps of the area from the RIVER ESTIMATED BUILDINGS FLOODING EFFECT 1950s to high-resolution satellite images from today. The coastline was shown to have receded more than 100 to preserve their livelihoods and traditional attachment to the meters in 60 years, with new coastal areas at imminent risk. sea, while benefiting from formal land titles. The community was engaged to determine the priorities for voluntary relocation to safer areas. In addition to raising awareness and monitoring progress, the communities have endorsed a prohibition of future housing in The government created expansion zones that converted high-risk coastal areas. One waterfront has been transformed rural land into housing lots, schools and health centers. The into a promenade with free Wi-Fi to encourage people to view safe areas are adjacent to the original communities, helping the area as a public space. ACTIVE ENGAGEMENTS GFDRR has engaged in 19 small island states, with $43 MILLION+ provided through 93 grants. HAITI BELIZE JAMAICA DOMINICA SAINT LUCIA GRENADA SISRI leverages a World Bank portfolio of resilience investments in small island states that averages $180 MILLION PER YEAR across 23 countries. 4 Practitioners from 22 small island states have exchanged project experiences through SISRI’s face-to-face community of practice, which is complemented by an online platform (SISRIPractitionersNetwork@worldbank.org). KIRIBATI MARSHALL ISLANDS SEYCHELLES SOLOMON ISLANDS SAMOA VANUATU FIJI TONGA MADAGASCAR Measuring Impact SISRI will help small island Hands-on assistance in between Between 2016 and 2020, SISRI states to measurably REDUCE 20 AND 24 SMALL ISLAND STATES will support small island states CLIMATE AND DISASTER RISKS WILL IMPROVE RESULTS MEASUREMENT, to INCREASE RESILIENCE to their economies, ecosystems STRENGTHEN POLICIES AND INVESTMENTS BY AT LEAST 25% and communities. INSTITUTIONS, AND INTRODUCE over baseline levels. INNOVATIVE INSTRUMENTS such as debt-for-resilience swaps. Community-Driven Resilience in Samoa PROTECT Coastal areas of Samoa have suffered multiple cyclones HOMES AND SAFEGUARD VILLIAGES LIVELIHOODS and storms in recent years, hitting farms and communities IDENTIFY FLOOD PLAN hard. SISRI has supported the government to address AND LANDSLIDE EVACUATION climate vulnerability in these areas through a community- RISKS driven approach. When villagers gathered on a roadside overlooking the THREE- ocean recently, examining maps on an iPad, they were not DIMENSIONAL using regular cartography. With support from the World MAPS Bank and SISRI, the government of Samoa is harnessing LiDAR technology which relies on laser imaging mounted on an aircraft. Communities were able to examine the three- LOCAL GEOSPATIAL dimensional maps to identify flood and KNOWLEDGE TECHNOLOGY landslide risks, protect homes and villages, safeguard livelihoods, and plan evacuation. The community-driven approach allows village leaders to combine local knowledge with high technology in deciding which local projects to fund for the greatest resilience benefit. PROJECT WITH GREATEST RESILIENCE BENEFIT It’s something that really brought the community together. The whole village worked together to make sure each family had a water tank. The people are very happy and grateful to get the assistance. – Ms. Lusia Sefo Aopo village, northern Samoa 6 Scaling Up Implementation in the Eastern Caribbean Experience with resilience projects in Organisation of The World Bank assisted the government in Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries shows the Belize to assess flood risk to the transport value that hands-on operational support can deliver. network. The results were incorporated into a National Climate Resilience Investment Plan with target funding of $430 million. By During the 2000s, most OECD countries 2014, the government combined multiple managed small adaptation and disaster sources of financing to close its investment management projects of $1-5 million gap. This approach enables nations to each. A decade later, eight of these handle progressively larger projects and countries (Belize, Dominica, Dominican achieve results at scale. Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Haiti, Saint Vincent and Saint Lucia) were directly managing resilience programs of $20-70 MILLION EACH. The higher investment volumes reflect intense implementation support to central coordinating units, many under Ministries of Planning or Finance. Training sessions and more frequent implementation support missions helped build capacity in procurement, financial management, geospatial data, landslide risk reduction and other disciplines. This gradual building of capacity through a learning-by- doing approach enabled Caribbean countries to channel resilience funds to where they were most needed. CONTACT HABIBA GITAY hgitay@worldbank.org NICHOLAS JONES njones@worldbank.org GFDRR THEMATIC INITIATIVE: SMALL ISLANDS RESILIENCE INITIATIVE Small Islands, Big Challenges