Regional : Pacific Disaster Resilience Program (Phase 5)

Public sector management / Public expenditure and fiscal management

The proposed program will improve the resilience of the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and Tuvalu to disasters triggered by natural hazards and health emergencies. It supports reforms to strengthen climate and disaster risk management (DRM), including health emergency preparedness.

The program is the fifth phase of the Pacific Disaster Resilience Program (PDRP), initially approved in December 2017. It comprises loans and grants under the contingent disaster financing (CDF) option under the policy-based lending (PBL) modality, with a post-program partnership framework (P3F) to ensure the continuation of reforms between PDRP phases.

The program covers small island economies that are restoring the progress derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and managing the challenges of narrow economic bases, geographical remoteness, and vulnerability to climate change and disasters. Driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural hazard impacts, the countries' economies contracted by an average of 6.1% in 2020 and 4.6% in 2021. The four countries are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and health emergencies. Their geography and location expose them to frequent disasters from natural hazards, including tropical cyclones, coastal flooding events, excessive rainfall, landslides, and droughts, all of which are exacerbated by climate change and sea level rise. Earthquakes and tsunamis represent significant risks. While the four countries managed to delay the entry of COVID-19 through strict border controls, they eventually experienced large-scale community transmission as borders reopened. In addition to COVID-19, all four countries remain at high risk of communicable disease outbreaks, such as climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases from increased flooding and warmer climates. This includes recent outbreaks of dengue in the Cook Islands, the FSM, and the RMI; Chikungunya in the Cook Islands and RMI; as well as confirmed cases of Zika virus in the FSM and the RMI. Waterborne diseases, such as rota virus outbreaks, are increasing from saltwater contamination because of sea level rise. Women are more likely to die or be injured in disaster events and are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including socioeconomic impacts on livelihoods, which increase the risk of gender-based violence (GBV) and mental health-related illnesses.