Coping with natural disasters in the Pacific

Sanjesh Naidu
Additional contact information
Sanjesh Naidu: Subregional Office for the Pacific, ESCAP

No PB35, MPDD Policy Briefs from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

Abstract: Pacific island developing countries are generally characterized by small population size and limited land area, remote geographic location and exposure to natural hazards and weather-related extremes, such as cyclones, tsunamis, droughts and floods. Based on historical frequency, the probability of a natural disaster occurring in Pacific island developing countries is estimated to be more than 20 per cent per year, which is higher than that of small States in other regions of the world. Lack of economic diversification and constrained macroeconomic policy space in Pacific island developing countries also limit their ability to absorb the impact of adverse shocks. According to an index that measures a country’s exposure and ability to cope with natural hazards in 171 countries, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu rank among the top 15 countries. In this context, climate change is often seen as the most significant threat to the livelihood and well-being of people in the subregion.

Date: 2016-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/MPFD%20 ... atural-disasters.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unt:pbmpdd:pb35

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in MPDD Policy Briefs from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, ESCAP ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).