Ireland and the Asian Development Bank have committed $US13.5 million to boost climate and disaster resilience in the Pacific.
Atoll nations are seeing an increased frequency in ocean inundations during high tides and storms. In this 2016 file photo of Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands, a photographer stands ankle deep in water as ocean water floods over the island and onto the main road in the foreground. Photo: Hilary Hosia
The Ireland Trust Fund has been established to administer the six-year programme.
The fund aims to help Small Island Developing States with disaster preparedness and is due to start later this year with $US1.68-million in funding.
The deal was signed today at the opening of the 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB's Board of Governors in Nadi, Fiji.
Small Island Developing States who are members of the bank include the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Most islands in atoll nations, such as in this aerial view of Jaluit in the Marshall Islands, are as little as two meters above sea level and threatened by climate change. Photo: Giff Johnson