Integrating gender in disaster management in Small Island Developing States: a guide

Climate risk management is taking on a new urgency for policy makers, as well as those on the front lines at community level. The connections between climate change and the increased incidence of hurricanes, droughts, massive floods, similar destructive phenomena and the ensuing human and material losses are now becoming more apparent. Caribbean and Pacific countries are Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and so face the vulnerabilities associated with their small size. Residents of remote rural villages and outer islands are particularly threatened.

Climate risk cannot be adequately mitigated or managed without understanding and acting on the basis of how these risks play out on the ground among men and women. This guide is intended to be a practical tool for disaster managers and their teams working to build resilience at the community level in small islands and ensure greater equality in the field of risk management.

– UNDP, 2012