As global debates on climate finance, loss and damage and urgent climate action continued at the COP29 Climate Talks, the Pacific region remains on the frontlines of climate change. For Pacific communities, climate change is not a distant threat — it is a daily reality.
With the world off course to meet resilience targets by 2030, the stakes are high. Between 2014 and 2023, disasters claimed an average of 41,000 lives annually, with 125 million people affected each year — a 71% increase from the previous decade. Economic cost of disasters also remained stubbornly high with $131 billion annually, or 0.3% of global GDP, with small island developing states like those in the Pacific bearing a disproportionate share.
Yet, hope lies in action — and the Pacific has solutions. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) continues to support governments in the Pacific to accelerate both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, addressing challenges while leveraging local strengths.
Integrated Solutions Linking Climate Action, Disaster Risk Reduction and Development
Climate and disaster risks are diverse but closely linked, and effective risk management requires a comprehensive approach. In the Pacific, this approach is not just theory but practice. Integrated planning is embodied in frameworks such as the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP) and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. At the national level, countries like Kiribati and Tonga have embraced this vision by developing integrated National Adaptation Plans (NAP), which identify medium- and long-term adaptation needs under the UNFCCC adaptation agenda.
As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said during his visit to the Pacific in 2024, “The world has much to learn from the Pacific, and the world must step up to support your initiatives.”
Despite progress, significant challenges persist in implementing holistic approaches linking climate change and disaster risk reduction, especially across sectors. At the Pacific Resilience Week 2024, government officials identified gaps in data availability and accessibility, particularly on slow-onset events and non-economic losses, overlapping mandates, and fragmented financing as barriers to implementation. UNDRR is committed to addressing these issues by supporting countries in strengthening disaster loss and damage tracking, improving risk governance frameworks and developing integrated NAPs and disaster risk reduction strategies.
“The Pacific’s leadership on coherent planning is widely acclaimed globally,” said Gabrielle Emery, Head of the UNDRR Pacific Office. “The region now has an opportunity to build on this to make the best use of scarce resources and ensure long-term resilience.”
Strengthening Early Warning Systems as a Lifeline for Resilience
As Pacific countries strive for comprehensive risk reduction, one critical element consistently emerges as a key tool for adapting to climate change: early warning systems. They save lives, ensure that communities are better prepared to act before hazards escalate into disasters and can yield up to a 20 times return on investment through avoided losses.
In the Pacific, initiatives like Weather Ready Pacific (WRP) exemplify regional leadership in preparing for extreme weather events. UNDRR supports WRP through the UN Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative, with a focus to ensure that its scope covers all components of a multi-hazard early warning system and warning messages reach everyone across all Pacific Islands. This includes prioritizing gender equality, disability inclusion, and women’s leadership to ensure that early warning systems are inclusive and accessible, leaving no one behind.
UNDRR has also been supporting countries in the Pacific through the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) financial mechanism to build early warning system capacity and strengthen governance and institutional frameworks that benefit over a million people.
Crucially, early warnings must lead to early action. Anticipatory action frameworks, which pre-arrange financing and plans triggered by specific hazard forecasts, are increasingly being adopted in the Pacific, supported by UNDRR and its partners. Countries like Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands are advancing and institutionalizing these frameworks to ensure timely, lifesaving interventions before disasters strike.
Challenges and Opportunities of Financing Resilience
Effective financing is the linchpin of resilience and at the same time one of the major shortcomings identified in the midterm review of the global blueprint for disaster risk reduction, the Sendai Framework.
Access to the global climate financing architecture has not been fit for purpose for the Pacific, and while changes are happening slowly, it is a good sign that the region is finding its own locally led solutions. The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), endorsed in 2023, exemplifies Pacific ingenuity. As the first financial institution owned by Pacific governments, the PRF is designed to fund community-level resilience projects. By 2026, it aims to become a sustainable mechanism for addressing the region’s unique needs.
In addition to innovative financing instruments like the PRF, optimizing domestic resources and ensuring dedicated funding within national and sub-national budgets are essential for climate and disaster risk reduction investments. The private sector can also play a pivotal role, not only by securing business continuity but also by fostering innovation and investing in climate change adaptation and resilient supply chains.
As financing mechanisms evolve to support resilience in the Pacific, it is equally important to ensure that countries have the technical expertise and support needed to effectively implement these investments. This is where the role of targeted technical assistance becomes critical.
Catalyzing Technical Assistance
The Santiago Network for Loss and Damage, hosted by UNDRR and UNOPS, is poised to play a critical role in helping developing countries reduce climate and disaster risks. Its operational guidelines, introduced in the Pacific in 2024, provide a roadmap for accessing technical assistance to avert, minimize, and address loss and damage.
As the Network becomes fully operational, Pacific governments will have greater opportunities to access expertise and resources tailored to their specific challenges, further strengthening resilience at all levels.
A Call to Action
The Pacific is more than a region on the frontlines of climate change. From pioneering integrated risk management to advancing early warning systems and anticipatory action, and creating locally led financing mechanisms, Pacific countries are leading by example.
The urgency of strengthening disaster resilience in the Pacific cannot be overstated. As we confront the escalating impacts of climate change and the increasing frequency and severity of disasters, the time to act is now.
“Investing in resilience is an investment in the safety, sustainability and future prosperity of the Pacific. By focusing on inclusive, locally led approaches and ensuring that resources — both financial and technical — are mobilized efficiently, the region can build a future that is better prepared, more resilient, and capable of weathering the challenges ahead,” said Gabrielle Emery of UNDRR.
UNDRR remains a steadfast partner, supporting governments with expertise, tools and advocacy to build a safer and more resilient future. As we navigate the challenges of climate change together, the Pacific’s voice must continue to be heard loud and clear.
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has a sub-regional office for the Pacific in Suva, Fiji. For further information, please contact undrr-ap@un.org. Find out more about the work of UNDRR at www.undrr.org.