Inclusive and Disaster Resilient Shelter Guide Urban Informal Settlements, Honiara, Solomon Islands

Disaster and climate resilience challenges are particularly acute in the context of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the South Pacific. The country is located in the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’ and has long been exposed to the impacts of a range of natural and climate-related extreme events such as earthquakes and cyclones. Solomon Islands is recognised as being one of the most vulnerable to natural hazards; ranked 2nd in the world (after Vanuatu) for disaster risk by the World Risk Report in 2021 (see Appendix 2 for more detail on natural hazard and climate exposure, and Appendix 3 for impact of various hazards and conflicts). Not only are SIDS highly exposed to natural and climate-related hazards, many of their cities are also growing at a rapid rate. The population of the Solomon Islands has increased at an annual rate of 2.7% over the 2009 – 2019 period to reach 721,000. Over the same period, Honiara’s population has increased at a much faster rate of 5.8% per year, reaching 130,000 (Solomon Islands National Statistics Office, 2020).