Stakeholder consultations on the Draft Disaster Risk Management Policy Framework commences

The workshop builds on the learnings from the technical consultations held in November last year, and is part of NEMO’s work around reforming laws, regulations and policies that will improve disaster risk management processes and practices in Tonga.

Around 50 participants including senior government officials from several ministries, private sector organizations, NGOs, community leaders and development partners gathered together to review the proposed vision, guiding principles, policy priority areas, policy governance arrangements and monitoring framework.

Opening the dialogue, the Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, and Acting CEO of MEIDECC, Mr. Paula Ma’u, highlighted that the proposed vision of the draft DRM Policy Framework is “to promote safer and resilient communities through risk-informed development and proactive disaster risk management”.

He shared how the beautiful kingdom is at high risk of disaster due to our geographical location, high levels of vulnerability to climate change, and low levels of coping capacity. He stated “the capacities and resilience levels of our people are tested each year as they prepare, respond, and recover from disasters. The memories of dealing with the devastation caused by TC Ian; TC Gita; TC Harold, and the recent HT-HH event, to name a few, serve as constant reminders on the need for us to focus and direct our efforts towards ex-ante risk reduction activities, to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards by implementing effective preparedness measures and investing more in resilient people and infrastructure.”

Mr. Ma’u also reiterated that the policy was just one of the many ways to realize the much-needed change required in DRM practice within Tonga. He stressed that DRM is the responsibility of all and stakeholders in the room must step up to the shared roles to effectively implement the policy.

Adding to the ongoing conversations on the policy reform process, Director for NEMO, Mr. Mafua Maka echoed that “The policy will operationalize the DRM Bill that has been passed through the parliamentary process and is awaiting royal assent, as it pushes for the formalization of the cluster system and their responsibilities during both peace and disaster time, increasing targeted assistance for vulnerable groups and the enhancement of Island DRM committee”.

Mr. Jian Vun from the World Bank Technical team echoed that the policy is a key resilience reform under the Joint Policy Reform Matrix (or JPRM), a policy dialogue between Government of Tonga and several development partners that provides budget support to the government, including contingent financing for future disasters.

During the consultations, participants expressed support towards the policy priority areas and provided feedback on areas that could be further strengthened.

This included emphasizing support for vulnerable groups, lessons learned from recent disasters for risk-informed development, ensuring subnational-level ownership and implementation of the policy, traditional knowledge of DRM and preparedness across Tonga’s islands, and considering all funding sources for DRM including development partner financing.

Discussions were also focused on explicit mention of governance and implementation arrangements, as well as the refinement of the proposed indicators in the monitoring framework.

The next set of consultations will be held with stakeholders in Vava’u, Ha’apai, and ‘Eua. The draft policy will also be uploaded onto the Ministry website for feedback and submissions are also welcomed through letter, email, and phone to NEMO office.

- NEMO