Page 39 - Islands Business May-June 2022

Tonga Tonga

Relief supplies donated by India arrive in Tonga.

signs,” Mafua said. He would like to see traditional knowledge She said interoperability of systems in Tonga is also critical.
documented “for the future generations”, understanding that “A lot of times we tend to say ‘lessons learned’. I for one do
climate change is affecting some traditional practices, such as not believe in lessons learned because when disaster happens,
the location of planting or seasonal cues. we still fall into the same trap. We still do the same mistakes.
Similarly, the need to continue to localise disaster resilience So I think if we identify the best practices [we can] see how
was consistently raised in Bali. Mafua supports that view, and we can move things forward.”
the importance of drawing expertise and support from other
countries in the Pacific Islands region, as was demonstrated editor@islandsbusiness.com
by the ability of Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office to
connect to Tonga soon after the eruption using high frequency
radio.
“Our culture shows that, that we can do it amongst our-
selves here in the Pacific,” Mafua said. “If I deploy a team,
from Tonga to Fiji, they survive, they can survive in Fiji
because they know the style of life and same as if I deploy a
team from Fiji to Tonga, they will survive as well, and even
Solomons and Samoans.”
He would like to see the private sector more closely in-
volved in disaster response and risk reduction, saying while
the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami saw
a “whole of government” response, it can be very hard to
involve private sector.
The need for better private sector involvement in DRR was
a common theme at the Bali conference, but there were no Need some expert advice or support for your
private sector representatives in the Pacific delegations, a telecommunications network – contact us!
reflection of how far we have to go in our region to better
integrate them.
“I think it’s a matter of trying to persuade them, and trying Specialising in strategic and commercial
to bring them in by looking at what they really need from us, aspects associated with the development and/or
but not what we really need from them…[then] I think they, implementation of submarine cable projects around
they will come to the table with something,” Mafua said. the Pacific!
“We still need integration, and integration that perhaps we
can customise so that it works for us for a small island such as
Tonga and our island neighbours in the Pacific islands region,” CONTACT:
Kioa added. “Longer term engagement and further collabora- John: jhibbard@bigpond.com
tion between nations and stakeholders and governments is Paul: paul@mccann-consulting.net
very much needed.”

Islands Business, May-June 2022 39