Understanding Climate and Disaster Resilient Transport in Small Island Developing States

You have probably read or heard the news about the impact of natural disasters on island countries in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, and the Indian Ocean regions.

How well do you know their situation, especially concerning the transport infrastructure?

Do you know how these small island developing states are coping with the challenges of climate change?

Do you know how natural disasters impact infrastructure asset management and asset resilience strategies in these small island developing states?

The “Climate and Disaster Resilient Transport in Small Island Developing States: A Call for Action 2017 by Maria Cordeiro” is an excellent resource that provides the context and a comprehensive understanding of this situation and the future challenges these countries face.

The report focuses on the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are island states located in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, and Indian Ocean regions.

The report features, among others, the following:

• Unique vulnerability of small island developing states to natural disasters and climate change impacts
• Managing these vulnerabilities and enhancing resilience
• Factoring disaster and climate change in transportation asset management
• Case studies

This report is well worth reading, and we encourage you to review the information and gain access to the valuable insights offered.

Report Authors

Maria Cordeiro is a senior transport specialist at the World Bank’s Transportation and ICT Global Practice.

Maria contributes to the Green Transport Community of Practice by identifying and deploying low-carbon and climate-resilient transport solutions, serving as a focal point on GHG accounting and climate co-benefits for the transport sector, supporting access to climate finance, and preparing knowledge products on green transport.

Maria has over 20 years of international work experience in climate change, air quality, and sustainable mobility. Before joining the Bank, she was a Section Manager at the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, UAE. Maria also worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Resources Institute, and other international institutions.

Maria has a Global MBA from IE Business School, an MSc in Integrated Environment Control from Nottingham Trent University, and a BSc Honors in Energy and Environmental Technology from the University of Glamorgan in the UK.

Frederico Ferreira Pedroso is a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Specialist at the World Bank.

In his role, Frederico provides technical advisory support for DRM activities ranging from Risk Identification, Risk Reduction, Disaster Preparedness, and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance. In Brazil, his engagement includes projects in the Transport Sector in São Paulo (Highway resilience) and Rio de Janeiro (Climate Change Impacts on Urban Transport), Water Sector (Espírito Santo and Ceará), Private Sector (Rio Grande do Sul) and Public Management (Paraná and Bahia).

In the Caribbean, Frederico has been working in a lending operation in Belize to improve climate resilience in the Transport Sector and developing Technical Assistance in Jamaica to estimate the impacts of natural hazards on the Transport Networks.

He is engaged in the World Bank’s Urban Resilience in Brazil and Bolivia. Before joining the World Bank, he worked as a Civil Engineer for a private firm in the State of Goiás, as a transport consultant in Brasilia, and as an assistant professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Frederico holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Pontifical University of Goiás (former Catholic University of Goiás), a master’s in Transportation from the University of Brasilia (UnB), a PhD in Civil Engineering (Transport and DRM Focused) from the University of Canterbury, and a Post-doctorate in urban logistics and Humanitarian Logistics from Kyoto University in Japan.

Please click on the link below to access the PDF copy and read the full report.

“Climate and Disaster Resilient Transport in Small Island Developing States: A Call for Action 2017“

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The report and the authors’ images are used with permission.