Tonga, a small island developing state, faces high vulnerability to climate-related hazards like cyclones, tsunamis, and sea-level rise. This roadmap, developed by CDRI and UNDRR, outlines a strategic plan to enhance infrastructure resilience across water, energy, transport, and telecommunications sectors. Key gaps include weak governance, fragmented policies, limited data systems, and under-resourced institutions.
The roadmap prioritizes actions such as creating a national infrastructure strategy, forming a critical infrastructure working group, and establishing a central disaster data center. Sector-specific recommendations include improving water quality, protecting coastal power assets with nature-based solutions, integrating climate adaptation into road design, and enforcing telecom data sharing.
Emphasizing cross-sector collaboration, data-driven planning, and community engagement, the roadmap aims to reduce disaster impacts, ensure service continuity, and support sustainable development in Tonga’s increasingly hazard-prone environment.
Key points
- Tonga faces severe climate risks threatening critical infrastructure and services.
- National strategy needed to coordinate resilient infrastructure across all sectors.
- Water sector suffers from fragmentation, outdated systems, and limited capacity.
- Energy infrastructure vulnerable to coastal hazards and fossil fuel dependency.
- Telecommunications require stronger regulation, data sharing, and emergency planning.
- Roads exposed to flooding; climate adaptation must guide future design.