2017 PRiMO Conference

The Pacific Islands face many natural and man-made challenges. Only by bringing people and organisations together, and channelling their efforts toward common goals, can communities become more resilient. PRiMO, the Pacific Risk Management ‘Ohana, is the platform for this effort. 

Conference

The Pacific Risk Management ‘Ohana (PRiMO) conference is the premier venue for community leaders interested in protecting Pacific Island communities from natural hazards. Each March, hundreds of participants gather to make connections, learn from each other, discuss ongoing initiatives, and design action plans.

This year’s conference theme is “Navigating Toward Security and Sustainability,” and will take place in Honolulu, Hawai’i on March 20-23, 2017, at the Hawai’i Convention Center. The conference will feature relevant keynote speakers from the region, a public community night, and engaging sessions led by resilience experts from across the Pacific. PRiMO’s hui, or working groups, will gather during the conference to discuss progress from the previous year and action plans for the coming year.

Audience, Sessions & Topics

The diverse group of attendees includes heads of state, representatives from business, nonprofits, and environmental groups, and concerned citizens. Topics range from water quality to disaster management and economic sustainability. This diversity and collaborative focus is what makes PRiMO work. People and organisations must work together if communities are to become more resilient. The action plans must be far reaching if Pacific Island natural resources, quality of life, infrastructure, homes, economic framework, and citizen health and safety are to be preserved. This is a tall task that requires inhabitants of the region to work and learn together. PRiMO provides that opportunity.

PRiMO conferences offer at least 25 different sessions, many led by distinguished leaders and innovators. Field trips and preconference training sessions provide opportunities to increase professional skills and gain firsthand knowledge about active hazard reduction activities. Participants return to their organisations with new skills, information, ideas, contacts, partners, and perspectives. They leave better equipped to find the creative solutions today's coastal hazard challenges require.

Each conference has a community resilience-focused theme. Attendees are encouraged to submit an abstract, for it is through sharing with one another that we all become stronger!

Submissions

More information on submitting a session proposal, a preconference proposal or an abstract for posters and papers may be found on the conference website.