The Pacific SIDS are vulnerable to natural hazards such as cyclones, earthquakes, and tunamis and increasingly affected by climate change impacts. The leaders in Pacific SIDS have thus identified Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as priority both at national and regional levels.  

The Sendai Framework for DRR 2015-2030 adopted in March 2015 emphasized the importance of DRR of cultural heritage and institutions as well as the role played by indigenous/traditional/local knowledge in DRR.

Over the years, UNESCO in Apia has provided assistance in the assessment of loss and damages related to the culture sector for Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) conducted after disasters in Pacific SIDS. Following the UN/WB Guidelines, the chapter on culture has been included in the following PDNAs;

- PDNA following the cyclone Evan in Samoa (2012)

- PDNA following the cyclone Pam in Vanuatu (2015)

- PDNA following the cyclone Winston in Fiji (2016) 

The First Regional Training Course on Disaster Risk Reduction of Cultural Heritage was held in Port Vila, October 2015.

Building on the above, a Preparatory Meeting on the Establishment of Blue Shield Pasifika was held at the National Archives of Fiji in Suva in April 2016.  This Meeting resulted in the establishment of an interim Blue Shield Pasifika.

Blue Shield is the name of special emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention, and also the name of a coalition of NGOs addressing DRR of cultural heritage and institutions in relation to both natural and human-induced disasters. 

In this connection, a Pacific Workshop on the Hague Convention and its Protocols is planned for Fiji in November 2016.