Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) in various Pacific countries
- Cook Islands,
- Federated States of Micronesia (FSM),
- Fiji,
- Nauru,
- Niue,
- Palau,
- Papua New Guinea (PNG),
- Republic of Marshall Islands,
- Samoa,
- Solomon Islands,
- Tonga,
- Tuvalu,
- Vanuatu,
- Pacific
ENTRY DATE: 09.03.2012 | LAST UPDATE: 09.03.2012
SCALE:
- Sub-regional Level
TARGET AREA:
- Rural and Urban
BEST PRACTICE IN:
- Project Implementation
- Research and Development
KEY SECTOR:
- Coastal Zone Management
FUNDING AMOUNT:
- USD 5,000,001 - USD 10,000,000
Description of Intervention
The PACC Project is the first major adaptation project to be implemented in the Pacific islands region that addresses directly the issue of improving the effectiveness of the response to climate change in the Pacific, while enhancing the systemic and institutional capacity to undertake adaptation across the region. The Project is the de-facto regional adaptation programme, considering its size, comprehensiveness and regional scope and is at present the main means of sharing practical adaptation experiences, as well as pooling related expertise and raising other initiatives.
PACC is the first United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project in the region to draw on resources from the Special Climate Change Fund, managed by the GEF. The Pacific region lacks examples and practical experience in climate change adaptation, particularly in the context of national development initiatives, and this is a key issue. Past development initiatives had a tendency to be handled in isolation, and were designed to address immediate needs and short-term government and donor imperatives. There was little appreciation of the practical implementation of adaptation measures as an integral component of development activities. This resulted in limited adoption of adaptation measures, increased the likelihood of mal-adaptation, and promoted inefficient use of development resources through projects that were not designed to cope with even medium-term climatic changes.
The PACC project is a regional climate change adaptation project to enhance the resilience to the adverse effects of climate change on a number of key development sectors (food production and food security, water resources and coastal zone management) in 13 PICTs. This project will demonstrate a framework of action that fuses the top-down (mainstreaming) and bottom-up approaches to climate change vulnerability assessments and action. This dual approach encourages new modes of action to emerge, which are consistent with both community and national priorities and plans. While the specific actions will reflect the cultural and geographical circumstances in the Pacific region, the approach is expected to be applicable in similar situations elsewhere.
The PACC project is closely linked to national level sustainable development and poverty reduction strategies. It provides additional resources to national governments of Pacific Islands for the design of development programmes that ensure the implementation of long-term adaptation measures that will increase the resilience to climate change in a number of key development sectors. This objective will be achieved by focusing on adaptation response strategies, policies and measures to bring about this result.
To ensure sustainability of the project, regional and national adaptation financing instruments will constitute a fourth component of the project.
Countries that are part of the PACC include Nauru, Niue, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Tonga and Tuvalu which focus on addressing water resources management; Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands which have national projects to help increase food security and food production; and the Cook Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa and the Federated States of Micronesia which address coastal erosion management issues.
Problems to be Addressed
• Water insecurity;
• Food insecurity; and
• Coastal erosion, sea level rise and damage to coastal infrastructure.
Aims
To reduce vulnerability and increase adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change in key development sectors identified by 14 participating countries in the Pacific.
Objectives
• To focus on enhancing the resilience of current development activities to the impacts of long term climate change;
• To incorporate adaptation to climate-change risks and related vulnerabilities into existing institutional and decision-making processes (“mainstreaming”), at both the community level and the national planning level;
• To recognise the role of gender-sensitive approaches in enhancing communities’ resilience, through community-based (“bottom-up”) vulnerability assessment and participatory adaptation planning approaches;
• To promote real community engagement in the processes addressing climate-related risks;
• To deliver tangible adaptation measures through practical demonstration projects at selected pilot sites; and
• To set a foundation for a strategic approach to replicate and upscale adaptation at the Pacific regional level.
How it fits into the EbA concept
The project helps vulnerable communities adapt to climate change by increasing adaptive capacity for the three sectors, which are water, food security and coastal zone. Activities are focused on mainstreaming efforts at the national level such as climate change policy development and/or integrating climate change into sectoral plans and policies.