Special session

Talanoa with Pacific Ministers for Disaster Risk Reduction

Introduction

Fiji in partnership with Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) successfully hosted an Inaugural Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Ministerial meeting in Nadi, Fiji on 14-16 September, 2022. This event was organized as a result of the SIDS Talanoa event that was organized by Fiji at the Global Platform for DRR in Bali, Indonesia in May 2022 whereby it was agreed to hold a Pacific Disaster Risk Management Ministerial meeting in Fiji in the lead-up to the upcoming Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR) that took place on 19-22 September 2022 in Brisbane, Australia.

The Inaugural Pacific DRM Ministerial Meeting represented an excellent opportunity in the region for a Ministerial level meeting on Disaster Risk Management whereby Pacific Island countries and partners discussed progress and showcased achievements towards the Sendai Framework targets and shared best practices from their respective country experiences. In addition, the Ministerial meeting provided an opportunity for Pacific Ministers responsible for DRM to present a collective voice in helping to guide the implementation of regional frameworks such as the Boe Declaration and 2050 Blue Pacific Strategy.

Therefore, in this year’s APMCDRR, the Government of Fiji through the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), in partnership with PIFS and SPC, would like to host a partner event to share key outcomes of the Nadi Declaration that came out of the Pacific DRM Ministerial meeting and also provide a platform for Pacific Island countries to share their experiences in the DRR journey, particularly around DRR financing.

The event will embrace the Pacific way of sharing where countries can get an opportunity to engage in the Talanoa (Dialogue) with Pacific leaders on the approaches to disaster risk management in the Pacific and discuss how the Pacific can further elevate and leverage discussions emanating from the Pacific DRM Ministerial meeting, to forge potential partnerships and improve efforts to combat the effects of climate change and disasters in the region.

Guiding questions will be provided by the moderator and the session will be open likewise to questions from the audience and media. Proposed questions for the Panelists are as follows;

1] Based on the Outcomes from the Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction Ministerial Meeting, please share how has your country progressed and where it stands. From your experience, please share on how multi-stakeholder partnership has/can improve accessibility and availability of DRR financing.

Objectives

The Pacific DRM Ministerial Meeting outcome dialogue aims to;
Understand the current efforts in the Pacific to address the challenges of operational planning and logistics capabilities, risk information and access to relevant disaster risk finance products for multi-hazard events;
Enhance understanding of financing opportunities available to Pacific island countries to address disaster preparedness and response;
Reflect on the need for regional effort to establish a regional Humanitarian Action and Disaster Response mechanism (HADR)

Outcomes

Better understanding on Pacific DRM Ministerial Meeting outcomes
Enhanced understanding on how PICs are addressing DRR challenges and appreciate their achievements to date
Enhanced understanding on DRR finance available for the Pacific and how can we improve accessing it.

Linkage with the Sendai Framework and alignment to APMCDRR themes and/or cross-cutting issues

The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are some of the most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change and disasters. Therefore building resilience is critical and requires strong and consistent leadership at the national and regional levels. This is to catalyze and galvanise efforts to build resilience, strengthening disaster risk mitigation, disaster preparedness, response, and recovery efforts. This event aims to provide the platform to Pacific leaders in DRR to share their progress and lessons learnt in their journey towards achieving Sendai Framework targets and sharing practical solutions on how multi-stakeholder engagement can help accessing and improving DRR financing.

Participants

It is expected that the head of Pacific Country delegations alongside Pacific NDMO Directors will participate/attend. The event will be open to all and is expected to attract a wide variety of stakeholders, including Government, Civil Society, academia and partners.