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Disaster Reduction Programme

Tuesday, 30 March 2010 10:44 administrator
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The Disaster Reduction Programme (DRP) provides technical and policy advice and support to strengthen disaster risk management practices in Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The Programme carries out this responsibility in coordination and collaboration with other technical programme areas within SOPAC and also with a range of regional and international development partners and donors.

The overarching policy guidance for DRP is the Pacific Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management Framework for Action 2005-2015 (Pacific DRR and DM Framework for Action) which supports and advocates for the building of safer and more resilient communities to disasters. The Pacific DRR and DM Framework for Action was approved by Pacific leaders in 2005. It is linked to the global Hyogo Framework for Action 2005 – 2015 which was endorsed by World leaders following the Second World Conference on Disaster Reduction in January 2005.

The other significant regional policy instruments that help to guide the efforts of the DRP are the Pacific Plan and the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change 2006 – 2015.

View DRP Profile

Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 September 2013 18:19  


Newsflash

Wednesday 10 July 2013, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Suva, Fiji – With the increasing flow of funding into the Pacific region for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation projects, it is essential to combine the perspectives of different sciences for effective outcomes. This is a key message from the Joint Meeting of the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management and the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable currently underway in Nadi, Fiji.

‘There are a lot of people with good intentions who want to do something useful about climate change adaptation,’ says Dr Arthur Webb of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).  ‘But for successful adaptation, we have to combine the sciences.’

‘You can have a technically sound climate change adaptation project, but if you don’t engage the social sciences in explaining activities to the community then the project will be less effective or could even fail,’ says Dr Webb, who manages SPC’s Oceans and Islands Programme.

‘If you have one group of scientists working to inform a community about something and they leave out another group of scientists with different and relevant expertise, then you don’t get the full picture.’

‘On the other hand, there are good examples of community disaster risk and climate change adaptation projects where the application of technical scientific principles is being combined with social science perspectives to ensure that critical aspects, such as communication and livelihoods, are taken into consideration,’ he says.