Climate change affects everyone but not in the same way – this is especially true for island states.
“We have a lot in common, even though we are geographically spread across the world” – Meiapo Faasau, IFRC Disaster Law Advocacy Manager for the Pacific.
Island states face similar climate and disaster risks including sea level rise, cyclones, coastal erosion and drought. Effective disaster laws and strong coordination mechanisms set the basis for the better management of disaster risks.
IFRC Disaster Law, with the support of the Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform (PIROI) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, organized a series of workshops tailor-made for Small Island Developing States from across Africa, Asia Pacific and the Caribbean.
The workshops, held from 29 August to 2 September 2022, and hosted by the Red Cross Society of Seychelles, enabled the participants to share stories, highlight concerns and discuss how disaster laws and coordination mechanisms help manage disaster risk.
The first workshop focused on legislative advocacy and was tailored specifically for Red Cross and Red Crescent National Society staff and governance members, to support them to develop strong advocacy strategies, and learn how they can strengthen their role as auxiliary to their government through legislative advocacy. During the different sessions and peer discussions, the participants identified similarities in key issues they have been experiencing relating to the implementation of disaster law, funding, status recognition from local authorities and capacity building.
The second workshop on enhancing climate resilience through disaster law enabled participants to put into practice the key learnings from the first workshop. National Societies engaged with their governmental counterparts, as well as regional and international organisations, on the next steps to support enhanced disaster risk reduction, preparedness and resilience through legislative reform.
Participants discussed the importance of reviewing their laws and policies to include all aspects of disaster risk management, from disaster risk reduction, to preparedness and response (including international disaster assistance) to recovery. Participants also talked about the importance of the effective implementation of existing laws and policies for disaster risk management.
This workshop also provided a platform for governments, National Societies and international and regional organisations to explore potential avenues and areas of collaboration to enhance climate and disaster risk management that leaves no one behind.
“We cannot become climate resilient alone. Deeper cooperation between National Societies and Governments constitutes the enabling environment for disaster law implementation.” – Roberto Lomoriello, Programme Management Officer, UNDRR Regional Office for Africa.
The highlight of these workshops stood in each island state’s willingness to sustain cooperation beyond the events themselves. They intend to raise their voices as whole for the next COP27 to not only voice their shared challenges regarding climate change adaptation, but also their action plan to reach their climate change adaptation goals. Indeed, recognising that many SIDS National Societies face similar challenges with respect to legislative advocacy, disaster law and climate action, the workshops led to the development of the Small Island Developing States Red Cross Red Crescent Disaster Law Network (SIDS RCRC Disaster Law Network). A first of its kind, the SIDS Red Cross Red Crescent Disaster Law Network has been developed to support National Societies from SIDS around the world to meet regularly, and aims promote a “one message, many messengers” approach to strengthen legislative advocacy efforts with respect to disaster and climate risk management and the auxiliary role, specifically in the SIDS context, across the globe.
The workshops' report is available here.