Roles of Pacific Regional Organizations in Disaster Risk Management: Questions and Answers

This study seeks to fill the information gap on the roles played by regional mechanisms in disaster risk management (DRM), through an in-depth assessment on the Pacific islands region. The report documents the current contributions of Pacific regional organizations to DRM and explores the potential for them to play more substantial and active roles in the future. This involves consideration of the expectations and directives of the governing member countries of these Pacific Regional Organizations (PROs), their comparative advantage over other DRM mechanisms, and their capacity to provide such services. The findings led to the identification of good practices for DRM at the regional level. They were also used to determine where, within the DRM space, PROs are best placed to work, and how their current contributions might best be strengthened in order to realize their full potential as key players in DRM for the Pacific islands region. Regional cooperation in the Pacific began immediately after World War II, when the region was almost wholly made up of dependent territories. A historical perspective on regionalism in the Pacific is extremely important for understanding the current and future roles of PROs in DRM.