One of the issues which will be discussed at the week's Pacific Platform will be the timely evacuation of the population threatened by a volcanic eruption on Vanuatu.
SUVA, 03 October 2017 – A landmark meeting in the Pacific focused on integrated efforts to protect lives and livelihoods from the negative impact of disaster and climate risk will open tomorrow.
More than 200 government officials and representatives from across the development sector will convene for the 2017 Joint Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Roundtable and in Fiji.
The joint event takes place a week ahead of International Day for Disaster Reduction (on October 13). This year’s theme is ‘Home Safe Home’ and focuses on target (b) of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction: Reducing the number of people directly affected by disasters with a particular focus on housing and livelihoods.
The Sendai Framework was adopted two years ago by UN Member States and its seven targets are designed to reduce global disaster losses and enable achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Reference will be made to the full evacuation ordered this week of the entire 11,000 population of Ambae island, Vanuatu, as the Manaro volcano spews ash and threatens to erupt. The Government’s prompt evacuation order is an excellent example of implementing target (b) of the Sendai Framework.
The main outcome of the joint Platform and Roundtable will be agreement on a set of recommendations for the new Pacific Resilience Partnership, endorsed by the region’s leaders for an initial period of two years at last month’s 48th Pacific Islands Forum, in Apia, Samoa.
This Partnership will be launched in 2018 to support the implementation of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific: An Integrated Approach to Address Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management 2017-2030 (FRDP).
The FRDP combines three of the main pillars of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change; and the Sustainable Development Goals – in a region-specific pathway to resilient development.