Fiji makes disaster displacement a priority
Fiji is committed to promoting global advocacy regarding the challenges of disaster displacement and outreach at the national and regional levels.
This was the assurance by the Permanent Secretary for Disaster Management, Salaseini Daunabuna, while welcoming Pacific countries and stakeholders to the regional consultation of disaster displacement, on Wednesday night. This comes as the country’s first village relocation project, Tukuraki, marks five years of its success. “I am pleased to join you this evening, at this important regional consultation to discuss the challenges of human mobility in the context of disasters and the adverse effects of climate change, in the region,” she said.
A major partner in this project is the Platform for Disaster Displacement, which Fiji held chairmanship of until yesterday.
“We wish to also reassure the incoming chair from the EU of our continued support in this regard,” she said.
PDD is supported by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM), the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) which is currently convening the two-day consultation.
Ms Daunabuna said this was critical in ensuring that Fiji and other regional countries were prepared to handle displacement brought on by climate change and natural disasters.
Additionally, the workshop was expected to help see first-hand how relocation could affect entire communities, that were forced to move because of climate change and natural disasters.
Despite it being a sad story, she stressed that the realities these countries faced as a region have built resilient people.