The Commonwealth membership is diverse across Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific regions. The membership comprises the world’s largest, smallest, richest and poorest countries. Thirty-two of our members are classified as small states – countries with a population size of 1.5 million people or less and larger member states that share similar characteristics with them.

Commonwealth member countries have been adversely affected by natural disasters on a disproportionate scale. Worst hit are small and vulnerable countries which are inherently vulnerable to these extreme weather shocks and small states are more severely and disproportionately impacted by climate related shocks.

Increased frequency and negative impact of external climate shocks presents a pressing need for Commonwealth countries to come together and learn from one another about disaster risk management and financing. There are numerous finance instruments available for member countries as categorised below.