A Pacific disaster expert is renewing a call for the region's decision-makers to incorporate disaster and climate risk issues into their development agendas.
Representatives of Pacific Island countries, development partners and donor agencies have gathered in Noumea this week for the Pacific Platform, an annual disaster conference run by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
The deputy director of the SPC's disaster reduction programme says although it is important to put a humanitarian face on disaster discussions, any development planning must take potential disasters into account.
Mosese Sikivou says that is a message the disaster risk community has been trying to convey for years.
"We have a much better understanding that dealing with disasters is more about dealing with development first. Because disasters can impact on development and those development practices can also exacerbate the impact of disasters."
The deputy director of the SPC's disaster reduction programme, Mosese Sikivou.
