ReliefWeb

$9,150,000 Funding Required
115,000 People in need
345,000 People Targeted
6 Entities Targeted

IOM Vision

IOM in the North Pacific strives to save lives by building the resilience of the region to the increasing hazards and vulnerabilities facing Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS). IOM seeks to work closely with populations of concern, government, and civil society to mitigate risks to safety, security, human rights, and the well-being of Micronesian people while supporting progress towards strengthened disaster prevention and emergency preparedness.

Context Analysis

The Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) recognize the increasingly devastating impact of extreme weather events on the socio-economic well-being of its citizens. The North Pacific region’s geographic location and topography render the island-states particularly vulnerable to impacts of climate change and the cyclical effects of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) related weather events, including extreme temperatures, drought, typhoons, and heavy rainfall. In the past decade alone, the North Pacific region has been devastated by typhoons (Palau 2012, 2013; FSM 2015, 2019) and droughts (Palau 2016; FSM 2010, 2011; RMI 2013, 2016, 2017) among additional hazard events.

The increasing frequency of disasters and extreme vulnerability including predictions for the significant or total loss of landmass and the implications for the security, human rights and wellbeing of Micronesian people has led the governments and international partners to look at the risks to livelihoods, coastal settlements, infrastructure, ecosystems, economic stability, and interventions to build resilience and mitigate those risks. The isolation of the remote, low-lying outer islands necessitates that communities actively engage in disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts, and have the tools, capacity, and resources to do so.