Disaster Waste Management Workshop

  

  

 

 

 

Disaster Waste Management Workshop: Sharing lessons-learnt and experiences on disaster waste management from around the Pacific

Thursday 8^th December 2022 – 1pm (Samoa time)

 

Photo credit: SPREP

 

Why a workshop on disaster waste?

In the Pacific, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters especially tropical cyclones are increasing and when these natural disasters occur large amounts of waste, known as disaster waste, are generated from damage to both the natural and man-made environment.

These natural disasters are a real challenge for all Pacific islands because of the negative environmental, health, economic and social impacts. In addition to the significant risks to property and people directly caused by disasters, these events can generate a significant amount of waste which in turn can impact on health, the economy and, or the environment. For example:

• Piles of waste on the roads can delay emergency lifesaving operations,
• Sharp waste such as broken glasses and deformed pieces of metals can cause serious injuries,
• Piles of waste can become breeding sites for mosquitoes and rats,
• Some hazardous wastes such as used oil or chemicals can spread and pollute the soil, rivers or the sea, groundwater, the atmosphere or even have health effects if not handled with care.

Pacific Islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of disaster waste, as natural disasters such as tropical cyclones are becoming more intense and frequent in the past 20 years due to climate change.

According to the latest data from the World Risk Report 2021, three of the ten countries with the highest risk of disaster in the world are in the Pacific region, with Vanuatu at 1^st, Solomon Islands at 2^nd place and Tonga was considered the third most vulnerable country to disasters. A total of six Pacific islands are included in the top 20 countries most at risk from natural disasters.

To discuss how Pacific Islands (such as Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu) have coped with managing disaster waste through lessons-learnt and experiences, SPREP, through the SWAP (Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific) project in collaboration with the J-PRISM II project and the PacWaste Plus Programme, plans to conduct a three and half-hour virtual workshop to be held on Thursday 8^th December 2022 at 1pm Samoa time.

Note: the workshop will be conducted in English while an interpretation service will be provided for the French speaking participants.

 

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What are the objectives of the marine litter workshop?

It is designed for the participants to:

• Inform the origins and the impacts of disaster waste;
• Highlight the challenges of Disaster Waste management in the Pacific;
• Learn how to prepare for minimising Disaster Waste generation;
• Inform of opportunities for Pacific Island Countries to manage Disaster Waste; and
• Inform on safe handling and storage of Disaster Waste.

 

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Agenda of the workshop

SPREP/SWAP/J-PRISM II/PACWASTE PLUS - Virtual Disaster Waste Management Workshop
Time	Topic	Purpose of the presentation	Speaker
1:00pm – 1:05pm	Introduction	Introduction to the logistical arrangements for the meeting	Consultant
1:05pm – 1:10pm	Welcome	Opening remarks	Mr Anthony Talouli WMPC, Director
1:10pm – 1:13pm	Overview of the workshop	Sessions and topics Objectives of the workshop	Facilitators
1:13pm – 1:15pm	Photo	Group photo	Consultant
Regional Activities
1:15pm – 1:25pm	Framework For Resilient Development (FRDP) In the Pacific	Key Principles GOAL 3 - Strengthened disaster preparedness, response and recovery	Mr Sione Fulivai FRDP Coordinator, SPREP
1:25pm – 1:35pm	Discussion		Facilitators
1:35pm – 1:45pm	Disaster Waste Management Guideline	DW prevention and mitigation Preparedness Early warnings DWM response measures	Mr Faafetai Sagapolutele, Assistant Chief Advisor, JPRISM II
1:45pm – 1:55pm	Discussion		Facilitators
1:55pm – 2:10pm	BREAK (15’)
2:10pm – 2:20pm	Samoa National Action Plan (NAP) for Disaster Risk Management	How is Disaster Risk Management organised in Samoa? What are the NAP governance arrangements? What are the monitoring and evaluation tools?	Ms. Fesolai Molly Nielsen, ACEO - National Disaster Management Office
2:20pm – 2:30pm	Activity Presentation – Samoa DWMP	Preparation (Institutional Framework, clusters, etc)	Mr. Setoa Apo, Principal Solid Waste Management Officer - MNRE
2:30pm – 2:40pm	National Action Plan - Vanuatu	How is Disaster Risk Management arranged in Vanuatu?	NDMO Vanuatu (tbc)
2:40pm – 2:50pm	Activity Presentation – Vanuatu Community Project	How did Vanuatu organise Disaster Waste Management response with communities following the tropical cyclone Harold in 2020? What were the key challenges?	Ms. Roselyn Bue, Senior Officer, Chemical and Ozone – MCCAMGEEDM
2:50pm – 3:00pm	National Action Plan - Tonga	Overview on how Disaster Risk Management is arranged in Tonga?	Mrs. Tangimeimoana Kioa, Principal Assistant - Secretary National Emergency Management Office - Tonga
3:00pm – 3:05pm	Lessons learned from Tonga on how the disaster waste was managed after the disaster	Interviews of key stakeholders involved in Disaster Waste Management after the tsunami and volcano eruption.	SWAP video - capsule
3:05pm – 3:15pm	Lessons learned from Tonga on how the disaster waste was managed after the disaster	How did Tonga organise Disaster Waste Management response/clean-up following the tsunami and volcano eruption? What were the key challenges?	Ms. Mafile’o Masi, Chief Environmentalist, MEIDECC
3:15pm – 3:20pm	Lessons learned from Tonga on how the disaster waste was managed after the disaster	Asbestos focus	Ms. Sulieti, PacWaste Plus In-country Officer - Tonga
3:20pm – 3:40pm	Discussion		Facilitators
3:40pm – 3:55pm	BREAK (15’)
Strengthening good practices
3:55pm – 4:05pm	Disaster Waste Management Data Collection Project	Introduction of the DWM Data Collection Project in Tonga Presentation of KoboToolBox	Tonga Waste Authority Ltd (tbc)
4:05pm – 4:15pm	Practitioner Guidelines	Guideline in drafting National and Community Disaster Waste Management  Guideline on Establishing Environment Sector Working Group Guideline on Standard Methodology for Estimating Disaster Waste.	Ms. Sainimili Bulai PacWaste Plus technical Waste Project Officer – Solid Waste
4:15pm – 4:25pm	Discussion		Facilitators
4:25pm – 4:30pm	Closing Remarks	Wrap-up and Closing Remarks	Mr. Anthony Talouli WMPC, Director
4:30pm – 4:35pm	Workshop Assessment	Online Assessment Form to get feedback from participants	Consultant

 

How to access the virtual workshop?

To access the workshop, please register first using the Online Form. And you will receive the Zoom link to join the workshop in the confirmation email.

 

In-country workshop hub locations

Please note, that we will be hosting in-person workshop hubs for Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. If you wish to join with other participants if you are joining from one of these countries, the locations for our in-country workshop hubs are as follows:

Country	Venue locations
Fiji	Malob Room, Pacific Community (SPC) GeoScience Division Campus, SPC Disaster and Community Resilience Programme at 241 Mead Rd, Suva.
Samoa	Pacific Climate Change Centre, Room 1 at SPREP, Avele, Samoa
Tonga	MEIDECC's Conference Room, Sanft Building, 2nd Floor, Taufa'ahu Rd, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

 

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the AFD. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the AFD.