reduction strategies in the Caribbean region recently attended the Pacific Platform meeting
in Fiji, with the objective of establishing south-south collaboration among small island
developing states (SIDS). SIDS countries share particularly high vulnerabilities, given their
tiny size, limited economic base, majority of the population living along the coastline, and
social trends such as the constant emigration of qualified professionals and youth. An
example of the latter is that while Fiji provides tropical cyclone monitoring services to 10
Pacific island countries, it struggles to retain the full staff of 14 meteorologists needed to
adequately provide these services, as trained meteorologists continuously leave to take up
higher salaried positions in New Zealand and Australia.
insurance scheme for regions composed mainly of small islands developing states (SIDS),
which use various insurance instruments to pool risks and provide a buffer for
governments of small countries which can often be overwhelmed by the widespread and
sudden hardships caused by large scale disasters. A representative from the Caribbean
Disaster and Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) spoke on that region’s experience to
date with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), in operation since
2005. To date this scheme has issued payouts to Dominica, St. Lucia and Turks and
Caicos, which experienced extensive destruction due to earthquakes and wind damage
from hurricanes. Given the lessons learned from the Caribbean experience with the
catastrophe risk insurance scheme, CDERA and the University of the West Indies outlined
some issues that the Pacific should address, as it considers whether it should adopt a
similar scheme. One key concern is that such schemes usually do not cover damages
from flooding due to excessive rains or seawater flooding, which are the most recurring
types of disasters hitting the Pacific countries. Another aspect relates to understanding
technically how the parametric triggers for payouts work, as Pacific governments are not
familiar with such systems.
sustained collaboration on the disaster risk reduction and climate change issues affecting
SIDS, for transfer of expertise, technology and lessons learned. Areas chosen for
particular attention include methodologies for generating climate information, and
strategies for integrating disaster risk reduction into sectors such as agriculture, tourism,
