IsraAID comes to the Pacific for solutions to climate change

Israel is bringing its disaster experience to the Pacific, where the rise in extreme weather events is already hurting small island nations, writes TAMAR KOSKY LAZARUS.

The Pacific is on the front lines of climate change. The impending threat of climate change is rapidly reshaping all our lives but small island nations in are already facing the harsh effects: extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and coastal erosion.

These small nations are among those who have contributed the least to causing the impending catastrophe, but they are already facing the challenges and working to build resilience to prepare for future disasters.

Israel’s leading humanitarian organisation, IsraAID, has more than two decades of experience working in disaster relief and sustainable development, We’ve seen how climate change is making emergencies more and more common and how the number of people affected is growing. 

That is why we’ve been looking more and more at the Pacific region, to understand the full scope of climate change and develop long-term solutions.

IsraAID began working in Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam in 2015. The Category 5 storm displaced a quarter of the country’s population. Strong winds destroyed homes, flooding made entire communities inaccessible, and damage to infrastructure made basic needs like clean water and food less available.

Our mission began as a standard emergency response, helping the community rebuild, but developed into a long-term mission developing sustainable long-term solutions in the face of repeating disasters.

 So we were still there when another Category 5 storm, Cyclone Harold, struck in 2020. And we were still there when twin cyclones hit the country in March this year. With climate events becoming more and more frequent, often the recovery from the last crisis isn’t complete by the time the next one strikes.