Countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania experience adverse environmental disasters more than other regions. Vulnerability to storms, hurricanes, cyclones, earthquakes, and flooding in these regions is attributed to their ways of life and their geographically low-lying coastlines and small island countries. Southeast Asia and Oceania have experienced exponential growth in population size, with a high proportion of people living below the poverty line. Villagers who do farming along the coastal regions lack the capacity to construct sea defenses against sea storms and monsoon rains. This, coupled with rising sea levels, exposes them to environmental catastrophes and disasters that disrupt their way of life. A picture of human life loss, livestock and crop destruction, damage to food and medicine supply routes, and other adverse health complications is usually seen in the aftermath of these disasters.
Secondly, Industrialization and greenhouse gas pollution along the pacific islands has led to devastating climate change. Member states within the region have given priority to the rapid growth of their economies rather than environmental preservation and sustainability. As a result, the area has been impacted by massive ecological degradation due to global warming, logging and deforestation, overfishing, depletion of natural protection, and highly concentrated urban excess.
Pacific islands are more vulnerable to the impact of rising seas due to climate change. Large population size and industrial pollution lead to an increased rate of fossil fuel burning. This releases heat catchment gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Global warming is one of the significant environmental problems in Southeast Asia and Oceania that leads to rising sea levels, catastrophic wildfires, and overwhelming droughts. Unless proper frameworks that recognize climate change are endorsed, the Pacific region will remain the most vulnerable region globally due to global warming and climate change, and an efficient disaster risk reduction plan is implemented.