Event Summary
Organization: World Bank Group & GFDRR
Description
Due to their size, remoteness and relative lack of natural resources, Small Island States face distinctive and specific challenges when building resilience to climate change and especially when considering their high degree of vulnerability and exposure to natural hazards when compared to other countries.
This session gave the opportunities for practitioners in the Caribbean, Pacific, and the African/Indian Ocean Islands to share their experiences on challenges faced and solutions used in the design and implementation of resilience enhancing operations. Discussions covered operational and technical aspects of Small Island States’ activities dedicated to strengthening the resilience of assets and reduce vulnerability of communities and ecosystems. The SISRI session was a first step towards creating a Community of Practice amongst Small Island States practitioners facing similar challenges and share practical knowledge and experience. The session facilitated discussions on the following:
- Investment planning and institutional coordination
experiences on institutional arrangements for resilience programs and shared experience of coordinating disaster risk management and climate adaptation investments across sectors - Addressing operational bottlenecks
key operational challenges in resilience programs – including procurement, financial management and safeguards - Risk-based spatial planning (including policy, legal and technical perspectives)
- Coastal Protection (including engineering, ecosystem and policy-based approaches
- Social Protection (including disaster-responsive safety nets and public works
- Risk Financing (including risk-pooling, budgetary planning, contingent finance)
The session was complemented on Tuesday afternoon by the session on “Dealing with Coastal Risks in Small Island States” “A Training Session on Simple Assessments of Coastal Problems and Solutions in Small Island Developing States” (https://understandrisk.org/event-session/dealing-with-coastal-risks-in-small-island-states-training-session-on-simple-assessments-of-coastal-problems-and-solutions-in-small-island-developing-states/
 |
 |