73132 Reducing vulnerability requires stronger political leadership, improved monitoring and evaluation, and end-user-friendly information; these will ensure that disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation considerations are mainstreamed in development plans and included in budgets, that well-designed disaster and climate risk initiatives are delivered efficiently, and that leaders make informed decisions. Acting Today For Tomorrow a policy and practice note for climate- and disaster-resilient development in the pacific islands region Policy Brief Guidance for Regional Organizations Pacific island countries and territories are among the most vulnerable in the world. They combine high exposure to frequent and damaging natural hazards with low capacity to manage the resulting risks. Since 1950 extreme events have affected approximately 9.2 million people in the Pacific region: they have caused 9,811 reported deaths and damage of around US$3.2 billion. (See figure 1 for average annual economic losses in the region as a result of cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunami). Vulnerability is exacerbated by poor socioeconomic development planning, which has increased exposure and disaster losses, and by climate change, which has increased the magnitude of cyclones, droughts, and flooding. The total value of infrastructure, buildings, and cash crops considered at some level of risk in the Pacific is estimated at over US$112 billion. Inaction could therefore prove extremely expensive and will only grow more expensive in the future. Figure 1. Economic losses due to tropical cyclones, earthquakes, Development that integrates risk considerations is and tsunami the best solution to the problem of vulnerability in the 7.0 Pacific. If this solution is not achieved, economic and 6.0 human losses from extreme events will increase, slow- onset and low-intensity climate and weather events will 5.0 continue to create hardships for the poor and other percent of GDP marginalized groups, economic growth will be slow, and 4.0 progress toward Millennium Development Goals will be 3.0 delayed. A plethora of disaster, climate change, and develop- 2.0 ment sector policy and planning instruments now exists, 1.0 including a regional policy for disaster risk reduction (DRR), another for climate change adaptation (CCA), and a third 0.0 for economic integration, development, security and tu ue lo ed a Isl s. ds Co Isla ji Isl s ds u G a or ea Ki te Tu ti lu u governance. In the last 10 years, moreover, climate and ok nd l Fi So a, F ng o la a ur on . St va es ua an an Ti uin Ni Ne Sam rib Pa Na si To -L n Va disaster funding and support services available to Pacific al w m sh m island countries have grown (figure 2). But DRR, CCA, and ar ne a M pu ico Pa development largely operate as three distinct communi- M country Source: World Bank, Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, ties of practice in the Pacific. Policy instruments, though Risk Assessment—Summary Report (Washington, DC: World Bank, forthcoming). well intended and the product of substantial thought and Photo: World Bank. President Tong planting mangroves, Tarawa, Kiribati. Acting Today For Tomorrow a policy and practice note for climate- and disaster-resilient development in the pacific islands region Figure 2. The diversity and complexity of climate funding and support sources to a typical Pacific Island Country Actual and potential climate support SPC PIFS ADB SPREP LDCF GEF World Bank SCCF Country PPCR X Climate investment UN-REDD Funds SCF UNDP Japan CTF New EU Adaptation Other UN Australia Zealand Fund agencies USAID “Green Fund� Source: Courtesy of Toily Kurbanov, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP, Fiji. Note: Orange boxes indicate support from multilateral development banks; green boxes indicate support from other multilateral sources; red boxes indicate support from bilateral sources; and blue boxes indicate support from regional organizations. ADB = Asian Development Bank, CTF = Clean Technology Fund, EU = European Union, GEF = Global Environment Facility, ICCAI = International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, JICA = Japanese International Cooperation Agency, LDCF = Least Developed Country Fund, MDGF = Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund, PPCR = Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience, SCCF = Special Climate Change Fund, SCF = Strategic Climate Fund, UNDP = United Nations Development Programme, UN-REDD = United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, USAID = United States Agency for International Development . effort, are not well coordinated, and investments are of vulnerability or to make disaster and climate risk often short term and poorly integrated. The institutions economy-wide and development-wide issues. But responsible for supporting DRR and CCA (governments, barriers to achieving climate- and disaster-resilient regional organizations, and donor and development in- development can be overcome if three critical stitutions) have weak partnerships, tend to be structurally requirements are met (figure 3): rigid, and often work in isolation from the actors involved in socioeconomic development planning and implemen- 1. Risk considerations must be integrated in the tation. Weak cooperation among the three communities formulation and implementation of social and (disaster risk, climate change, and development) and in- economic development policies and plans. adequate integration of their instruments prevent avail- 2. Political authority, leadership, and accountability able resources from being used efficiently and from pro- must be robust and effective ducing effective and lasting improvements. The current arrangement is inefficient and 3. Coordination and cooperation among actors must expensive, and it fails to address the underlying causes be increased. Policy Brief guidance for REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Figure 3. Key requirements for climate- and disaster-resilient development Political Authority, Leadership, and Accountability Resilient Development Strong Grounding Risk Coordination Considerations and Partnerships in Development Source: Authors. Practical steps for grounding risk considerations in development: 1. Strengthen support to relevant institutions to ensure that disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation are well coordinated at all levels. 2. Focus on outcomes rather than inputs to clarify and rationally assign the roles and responsibilities of institutions. 3. Support and encourage the mainstreaming of DRR and CCA considerations in development planning and budgetary processes. 4. Bolster monitoring and evaluation of regional programs in order to improve outcomes and impacts, and build on existing frameworks that monitor development. 5. Ensure that data are available, easy to access, serve the needs of member country end-users, and inform the selection of priority investments and development programs. Practical steps for achieving strong political authority, leadership, and accountability: 1. Support the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the region’s preeminent political agency, to secure political leadership and accountability at the regional level. 2. Provide appropriate capacity support to leaders to ensure that they have the knowledge, skills, and awareness to make sound decisions about disaster and climate risk management. Practical steps for promoting strong coordination and partnerships: 1. Encourage mutual trust, respect, and flexibility among all regional actors to foster good working relationships and ensure adequate resourcing and efficient sharing of knowledge and implementation capacity. 2. Optimize the comparative advantage of regional institutions by appropriately dividing labor between them (for instance, coordination responsibility could be anchored in the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, which oversees regional development, cooperation, and integration; and DRR and CCA services could be handled by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, which have the technical mandate and capacity to deliver them). 3. Improve alignment between regional institutions; doing so would enable achievement of overarching Pacific Plan objectives by integrating climate and disaster risk reduction efforts and would facilitate effective whole-of- government and regional approaches. 4. Use strong and transparent consultation and coordination mechanisms to facilitate sharing of data, good practices, and lessons learned. 5. Promote joint planning, programming, and implementation of DRR and CCA interventions in ways that make optimum use of actors’ comparative advantages. Photo: World Bank. Consequences of the 2012 floods in the Western Division, Viti Levu, Fiji. Policy Brief Acting Today For Tomorrow This policy brief is based on a longer World Bank The writing team benefitted greatly from the document, “Acting Today for Tomorrow: A Policy feedback and guidance of peer reviewers and and Practice Note for Climate- and Disaster- advisors from the Pacific region and from the Resilient Development in the Pacific Islands Region� World Bank. Special acknowledgment is due to the (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012). All relevant organizations that supported the World Bank in documentation for the brief can be found in the the dissemination of the policy and practice note, policy and practice note. particularly the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme. We also acknowledge Photo: World Bank. New schools have been built in relocated the financial support of the partners of the Global communities in Samoa. Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery. 1818 H Street, NW 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 USA Washington, DC 20433 USA Telephone: 202 477-1234 Telephone: 202 458-0640 Facsimile: 202 477-6391 Facsimile: 202 522-3227 Internet: www.worldbank.org Internet: www.gfdrr.org www.worldbank.org/pi E-mail: drm@worldbank.org E-mail: feedback@worldbank.org