Island nations meet to talk climate resilience and coastlines
For island nations like Kirabati in the Pacific Ocean, climate change poses an existential threat – and reducing that risk was the topic of a meeting in Mexico on Monday, ahead of the biennial 2017 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held this week.
Dozens of representatives of the world’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS) met to discuss their unique challenges in the fight for the planet’s future. There are 57 SIDS nations, including six African countries, who are forging strategies and trying to find the funds to cope with rising sea levels and more frequent intense storms.
Along with UN agencies, the SIDS event was also organized by the World Bank’s Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), which runs the Small Island State Resilience Initiative. It helps to support increasingly fragile nations facing some of the biggest challenges with few resources.
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