Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council - Connecting Business Initiative

OVERVIEW

RISK PROFILE

Around 90% of Fiji’s population lives in coastal areas, leaving the country acutely exposed to storm surge and flooding on top of cyclone risk. Fiji is highly exposed to climate change more broadly, with the World Bank projecting GDP could shrink by 3–7% by 2050 without further investment in resilience — and a single severe shock capable of wiping out 8–15% of GDP in one year.

The Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC), hosted by the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF), provides a coordination mechanism for the private sector to engage with the Government and partners on resilience building, response and recovery activities.

The Council:

Identifies and engages private sector capacities and resources to respond to emergencies, preposition agreements in preparation for emergencies and match capacities to humanitarian needs before, during and after emergencies.
Supports businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to strengthen their resilience by providing training, tools and guidelines;
Integrates the private sector into national disaster management and resilience plans and processes;
Collectively lobbies for resources for business training and capacity building;
Provides a single-entry point and voice for the private sector on issues relating to disasters and resilience;

In early 2021, Fiji had to deal with the consequences of Cyclone Yasa (which struck the country in December 2020) and Cyclone Ana (which caused extensive flooding and destruction in January 2021), as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. FBDRC partnered with the National Disaster Management Office to help spread awareness messages and support information management.

In addition, in January and February 2021, FBDRC conducted a business continuity plan training with USAID Climate Ready. The workshops helped disseminate information on disaster awareness and preparedness and provided practical solutions to overcome the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on businesses.