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Small Island Developing States

Disaster risk management, disaster risk reduction, disaster preparedness and long-term recovery in the context of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Τhis theme covers the unique and particular vulnerabilities of SIDS as well as SIDS’ exposure to climate hazards and sea-level rise.

Latest Small Island Developing States additions in the Knowledge Base

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Fragile prosperity: Natural disasters and economic growth in small island developing states thumbnail
Documents and publications
Fragile prosperity: natural disasters and economic growth in Small Island Developing States

Climate-related disasters significantly hinder medium-term economic growth in Small Island Developing States, exposing structural vulnerabilities and the need for greater economic diversification and resilience.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Villagers on Tanna Island, Vanuatu, perform traditional ceremonies in the shadow of Mt Yasur, an active volcano.
Interview
Maëlle Calandra
Uncovering local realities: a spotlight on a disaster anthropologist
Maëlle Calandra, a disaster anthropologist and a research fellow was interviewed by PreventionWeb to find out how disasters on the island of Tongoa and the socio-cultural realities of its people interact in such a hazard-prone area.
SIDS4: Ensuring a Multi-hazard approach in the implementation of the Early Warning for All Initiative (EW4ALL)
Update
Building climate-resilient transport systems in Small Island Developing States

The World Bank has developed an approach called the Transport Infrastructure Lifecycle Framework to support SIDS enhance the resilience of their road, maritime, and aviation sectors.

Global Center on Adaptation
Journalists are discussing with Port Louis engineers during a field visit in the context of a workshop on risk communications in Mauritius, 27-29 October 2025.
Update
From newsrooms to communities: African SIDS journalists lead the way in risk communication

UNESCO, the African Union of Broadcasting (AUB), and UNDRR joined forces to support media organizations in four African SIDS - Cabo Verde, Comoros, Mauritius, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
Update
Study provides new forecasts of remote islands’ vulnerability to sea level rise

Low-lying atoll islands are among the most vulnerable places on Earth due to rising sea levels and, when they flood, it is disruptive and potentially hazardous.

University of Plymouth
Satellite infrared image Hurricane Melissa
Update
No time to recover: Hurricane Melissa and the Caribbean’s compounding disaster trap as the storms keep coming

Headlines have been filled with talk of the catastrophic power of Hurricane Melissa after the Category 5 storm devastated communities across Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti in October 2025.

Conversation Media Group, the
Update
Climate disasters will send many countries into a debt spiral – but there’s a way out

Increasingly frequent climate disasters wipe out years of progress in small island developing states, forcing them into increasingly costly borrowing to fund their recovery.

Conversation Media Group, the
Case study
Timor-Leste SIDS (Small Island Developing States) LDCs (Least Developed Countries)
Disaster loss and damage data assessment with multiple stakeholders in Timor-Leste
UNDRR led a comprehensive assessment of loss and damage data collection practice in Timor-Leste that informed a methodology and procedural guidance for improved accounting for disaster loss and damage.
  • United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
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