Pacific and Caribbean Regions Share Experiences

The vast Pacific Ocean has many similarities with the Caribbean. Both are populated by small island countries. Their geographical similarity also brings with it similar challenges, especially when it comes to adapting to climate change and preparing to better face natural disasters like floods, cyclones, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
Pacific Islanders and people from the Caribbean have developed their own coping and adaptation methods, but these two regions have had limited exchanges of common experiences. In the past most ideas were exchanged through chance meetings or as a result of someone stumbling across the information.
Exchanges between the two regions have started now through the project: "South-South Cooperation between Pacific and Caribbean Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management". Put simply the project aims to encourage a systematic sharing of knowledge and experiences to strengthen community safety and resilience to a range of natural disasters in both regions.
As part of this exchange project, a Caribbean delegation made up of five specialists was in Fiji in August, 2010. They attended a Pacific regional meeting of disaster risk managers and visited an island community to witness how disaster risk management and climate change adaptation strategies are applied at a local level.
The Caribbean delegation's visit to Fiji had been preceded by an Asia-Pacific delegation's visit to the Caribbean. Six Pacific participants and one participant from the Maldives toured the Caribbean in July, meeting their counterparts and exchanging ideas and expertise during a visit that spanned four Caribbean countries: Jamaica, Cuba, Barbados and St Lucia.
These visits have been captured in the film: "Looking South Across the Oceans: Promoting Cooperation Among Small Island Developing States". The film tells the story of how small island developing states (SIDS) in the Pacific and Caribbean have embarked on a journey to share knowledge and experiences to strengthen the resilience of them communities to natural disasters and climate change. It highlights that many adaptable solutions to the challenges posed by natural disasters can be found by looking South.
The "South-South Cooperation between Pacific and Caribbean Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management" project is funded by UNDP's Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and by the UNDP-Japan Partnership Fund, with in-kind contributions from UNDP Pacific Centre from where it is coordinated.

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