PICs and territories are significantly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change-related and geological hazards. In the recent months, the Pacific region has been affected by tropical cyclones, flooding, volcanic eruption, tsunami. Additionally, COVID-19 has significantly rolled back development gains of PICs and has further increased the existing finance gap that PICs need to build a resilient development pathway. Most PICs still struggle to provide adequate finance coverage to protect economies when disasters strike.Pacific leaders have shown through the adoption of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific, a strong commitment to the integration of climate and disaster risks into government decision making and financial planning. Through the FRDP, Forum members are committed to enhance collaboration around regional risk management. Ongoing political commitment and ‘regionalism’ will be increasingly required to develop policy needed to leverage additional resources and ‘risk pooling’ may be the most sustainable way to develop risk financing mechanisms that are fit for purpose and ‘needs based

To cushion the impacts of disasters, PICs are being pressured to re-look at their disaster and climate risk management strategies including their Disaster Risk Financing approaches. To help strengthen response and preparedness to disasters, they must ensure that there is financing available to address the various types of needs that may arise in anticipation and following an event. The effort to address this pressing need, however, is not taking place uniformly and in a consistent way across the region. More is needed to encourage and support those in key advisory and decision-making positions to act. More is needed to ensure that different stakeholders can contribute to ensuring adequate financial protection for all in the community in case of a disaster. Disaster risk financing is a significant national and regional imperative. Recent disaster events have highlighted the important role financing for disaster response and preparedness is critical. Unfortunately, the relevant actions are not happening fast enough in-country, as most PICs still struggle to provide adequate finance coverage to protect economies when disasters strike. Moreover, the technicalities of DRF have resulted in the issue being championed by a few individuals only thus resulting in limited discussion at the national level.

There is therefore an urgent need to strengthen public awareness and explain the importance of DRF within the ambits of nations’ Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change (CC) strategies. Further harmonizing and coordination with efforts being made in the Climate Risk Financing space is crucial.

Whilst Cash Transfer Programs are a relatively new method of assistance in the Pacific, remittance has been a vital livelihoods strategy for households in the Pacific for many years. Governments and agencies have been engaged in providing cash transfers as a component of poverty alleviating projects and multiple social protection programs as well as the provision of small grants and associated training and programming, and microfinance are rather common in some PICs.

Some agencies and banks, such as World Bank and WFP are already exploring the potential of remittances for shock-responsive social safety nets. More needs to be done though to identify when and how social protection systems can be better scaled up in response to shocks in PICs.