Indigenising international disaster law: a Pacific Way?

The Oceanic Pacific region is the most vulnerable to natural hazards on the planet. Many of the states that comprise this region operate in a constant state of response due to the challenges posed by their status as Small Island Developing States. However, this region also comprises two developed ‘metropolitan’ states with a complex post-colonial relationship with their island neighbours, and political and legal regional co-operation has proved difficult. Nevertheless, a regional model has developed, utilising a particularly ‘pacific way’ of informal relationships, which are now increasingly including disaster law. This chapter explores the development of Pacific approaches to disaster law. In doing so, it considers how effective these developments have been, particularly for the Pacific Island states themselves and for wider region. In addition, it considers what lessons the development of Pacific legal approaches to disaster response can provide to other parts of the globe.