A little over a month after
the earthquake in Haiti,
saving lives is still on top
of the agenda of domestic
agencies and foreign relief
providers. Very soon,
however, questions about
regulating foreign relief will
be coming to the fore.
The place for law amidst the tarpaulins:
Regulating aid to Haiti
UPCOMING EVENTS
Asia Regional Training on
IDRL, Bangkok, 1-2 April
2010.
European Regional Training
on IDRL (RC only), Vienna,
10-12 May 2010
National IDRL Workshop,
Warsaw, 8 April 2010
ALSO IN THIS EDITION
>
>
>
The Philippines is on the
verge of adopting a com-
prehensive new disaster
risk management bill.
Catherine Martin, Director
of Disaster Management
Services at the Philippines
Red Cross, provides
some perspective.
Interview: Catherine Martin of the Philippines
Red Cross assesses the new disaster bill
Questions? Comments?
Write us at:
E-newsletter N°22 / February 2010
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Interview: Mosese Sikivou of SOPAC outlines
disaster law strategies for the Pacific
In this interview, SOPAC
Community Risk Program-
me Manager Mosese
Sikivou discusses strat-
egies and challenges in
strengthening disaster
legislation and plans in
Pacific Island countries
Interview: Mosese Sikivou of SOPAC outlines disaster law progress and
strategy in the Pacific
I D R L E - N e w s l e t t e r N o . 2 2 F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0
Mosese Sikivou is Manager of the Community Risk
Programme of the
, a regional intergovernmental organisation. In this interview, he spoke to the IDRL
Programme about progress in the Pacific in strengthening
disaster management laws and plans.
What is SOPAC’s current focus in the development of
disaster management laws?
In 2010, SOPAC will continue to provide support to Pacific
island countries to review and strengthen disaster risk
management (DRM) governance arrangements. Target
countries are Tuvalu and Kiribati while at the same time
there will be continuing support to other countries, such as
with Fiji, Palau, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Marshall
islands, in terms of the consolidation of new plans and
legislation developed recently.
What are the main challenges to creating improved
DRM legislation?
The major challenge is to obtain the commitment of
consistent support from the relevant government agencies
to the process of reviews and, as importantly, to the
implementation of new arrangements. In addition, there is
always a need to ensure a wide representation of interests
during the review process and so working with
Governments to ensure that stakeholder interests are
represented and reflected in the new DRM governance
arrangements can be challenging as well.
Another key challenge is budgetary. The Pacific is one of
the most natural hazard prone regions in the world and it
is imperative, given the fragile nature of its developing
economies, that disaster risk and climate change
considerations be embedded within national development
planning and budgetary mechanisms. It is no longer
sufficient to keep, as it might be the case today,
discussions on disaster risk and climate change isolated
within the traditional DRM or environmental management
governance systems.
How do you work around these challenges?
The solution to these challenges requires a succession of
different interventions, for example, extensive and
comprehensive high level advocacy with leaders and
decision-makers. Achieving support at the political level
for revised governance arrangements is always a critical
concern and it is now apparent to agencies such as
SOPAC that, in order to progress, it is important to foresee
how strengthened DRM governance arrangements and
related implementation will improve the implementation of
national sustainable development initiatives.
Another solution out is to identify a local ‘champion’. This
would be a person who is a respected member of the
community, but also has a demonstrable record of
achievements and contributions from either within or
Mosese Sikivou
Manager of the SOPAC Community
Risk Programme
outside the government system. Working with such an
individual would increase the possibilities of success since
national and local stakeholders are more likely to be
convinced by the voice of one of their own.
It is not sufficient to leave advocacy, etc. to scientific and
technical agencies like SOPAC. Donors have a major role
to play in influencing change and improvement and in
providing institutional strengthening and capacity building
opportunities to central agencies specialised in Finance
and Planning. Through such programmes there is an
opportunity to influence changes in mindset in order to
help facilitate a more meaningful integration of disaster
risk considerations into planning processes etc. This
needs to be a priority and SOPAC also needs to continue
discussions with donors concerning this.
What have the successes been?
Two good examples are Samoa, which developed a new
disaster plan in 2006 and law in 2007, and the Solomon
Islands, where a new disaster plan is currently awaiting
endorsement by the Cabinet.
The Samoa Disaster Management Office has worked
closely with SOPAC and other partners to address the
consolidation of new arrangements through a dedicated
programme of implementation. As a result, training on
Initial Damage Assessment was undertaken by The Asia
Foundation/Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in
2008. Also, the Samoa DMO organised a tsunami
evacuation exercise for Apia in 2008. A series of
community level workshops were conducted in Savaii in
2009 with the aim of improving community level
consciousness regarding predominant hazards and
measures to mitigate their impacts. These types of
activities demonstrate a significant commitment by the
Samoan government to use the new governance
arrangements as a foundation for changing the culture
within the country to one of safety and resilience”
As for Solomon Islands, he mentions the same trend.
Whilst the formal endorsement is still pending on the
support of a major donor, AusAID, the Solomon Islands’
NDMO is undergoing a process whereby a technical
expert is assisting in the implementation of new
governance structures at national and provincial level.
What has been the role of civil society, including the
National Red Cross Societies, in the processes in
Samoa and the Solomon Islands?
They have certainly been consulted as part of the process
of defining the new governance arrangements and
continue to work closely with the respective NDMOs in
order to ensure implementation.
How are regional partners involved in your work?
SOPAC’s reviews will involve the support of members of
the Pacific Disaster Risk Management Partnership
Network, which was established in early 2006 to provide
support to Pacific countries, amongst other things, in
strengthening governance arrangements. A number of
partner organi-sations, such as UNOCHA and IFRC, have
already expressed interest to provide support to the
SOPAC-led initiative in Tuvalu and Kiribati.
Country
Disaster Act
Nat’l Disaster Plan
Status
Year
enacted
Status
Year
adopted
Cook
Island
Available
2007
Available
2006
FSM
Available
1989
Available
2000
Fiji
Available
1998
Available
1995
Kiribati
Available
1993
Not available
Marshall
Islands
Available
1994
Available
1997
Nauru
Draft Bill in 2007
Draft in 2007
Niue
Available
2004
Available
Palau
Not available
Available
1999
Papua
New
Guinea
Available
2005
Available
2006
Samoa
Available
2007
Available
2006
Solomon
Islands
Available
1989
Available
1997
Tonga
Available
2007
Available
2008
Tuvalu
Not Available
Available
1997
Vanuatu
Available
2000
Available
2004
DM Law Progress in the Pacific
Source: SOPAC
How do you see the role of IFRC as a partner in these
review processes?
There has not been a formal collaboration with IFRC, but
we have collaborated on some fronts, and we intend to
improve this in 2010.
In Kiribati, we jointly organised a Forum on Disaster Risk
Management, with specific focus on legal preparedness
and DRM arrangements. This was a key step towards the
SOPAC-led work in Kiribati this year. Beyond Kiribati, we
intend to include IFRC on a more regular basis in national
level work. Given its linkages to National Red Cross
Societies, we hope for specific inputs on legal prepared-
ness to foreign disaster response, as well as in other
areas.
Document Outline
- IFRC_2010_IDRL_Enewsletter22_Mosesesinterview
- IDRL newsletter - February