The Asian Development Bank says Pacific nations need to step up their efforts to adapt to more extreme weather conditions.
High tides in Marshall Islands in March 2016 hit a seawall. Photo: RNZI/Giff Johnson
In its latest Pacific Economic Monitor the Bank said changes were needed now to mitigate disaster risks to improve the region's economic growth and development prospects,
The ADB's director general of its Pacific Department, Carmela Locsin, said many Pacific countries had taken steps to improve resilience but she said more innovative approaches and greater institutional capacity could help the response.
The area's growth outlook for 2018 has been adjusted downward slightly by the Bank to 3.2 percent, which it largely put down dampened economic prospects for some of the North Pacific and small island economies.
But it said a positive in 2017 had been the high visitor numbers in the Cook Islands and Fiji - the two largest South Pacific tourist destinations.
It also said Samoa and Vanuatu had recorded solid growth from their tourism markets.