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The inextricable links between climate change and sustainable development have been increasingly recognised over the past decade. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 concluded with very high confidence that climate change would impede the ability of many nations to achieve sustainable development by mid-century and become a security risk that would steadily intensify, particularly under greater warming scenarios. Article 4.8 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lists several groups of countries that merit particular consideration for assistance to adapt to climate change “especially: (a) small island countries, (b) countries with low-lying coastal areas, c) countries with areas prone to natural disasters.” Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have characteristics which make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea level rise (SLR) and extreme events, including: relative isolation, small land masses, concentrations of population and infrastructure in coastal areas, limited economic base and dependency on natural resources, combined with limited financial, technical and institutional capacity for adaptation.2

At a global scale, the waste management sector makes a relatively minor contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, estimated at approximately 3-5% of total anthropogenic emissions in 2005. However, the waste sector is in a unique position to move from being a minor source of global emissions to becoming a major saver of emissions. Although minor levels of emissions are released through waste treatment and disposal, the prevention and recovery of wastes (i.e. as secondary materials or energy) avoids emissions in all other sectors of the economy. A holistic approach to waste management has positive consequences for GHG emissions from the energy, forestry, agriculture, mining, transport, and manufacturing sectors.

This Food Security Toolkit, designed specifically for Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), aims to improve Pacific Islanders’ ability to produce and access safe and nutritious foods that meet their dietary and cultural needs. Targeting food security in the Pacific region is a critical action in the face of climate change, which will continue to place added pressure on existing food and water resources. The ultimate aim of the toolkit is to help ensure that Pacific Island communities continue to produce and have access to a wide range of nutritious food for the dinner plate and market place.

This Toolkit is designed to guide users through the process of developing and implementing Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) projects. It is organised around the following, simplified stages in the project cycle: analysis, design and implementation. It also provides guidance on information & knowledge management, including monitoring & evaluation. This is the fourth component of the project cycle, which occurs throughout the other three stages (see CBA Project Cycle for further details). For each of these stages, step-by-step guidance is provided, along with recommended tools and resources to support the process

It was made clear from all of the presentations that climate change is occurring and its consequences, or changes attributed to climate change, are manifestly being observed and noted by Traditional owners on country in ways that richly complement the much more publicised knowledge emerging from the “western” scientific paradigm. The impacts are both direct and indirect, obvious and variously disguised, environmental and social. The way to mitigate impacts and adapt to changes varies across natural and human landscapes. One of the key features in north Australia is the relatively large proportion of Indigenous people who are particularly vulnerable, not only to obvious physical impacts of climate change effects like more frequent severe cyclones; but to background conditions such as economic underinvestment, poverty, health issues and the vicissitudes of policy making. Such conditions in over-governed, under-resourced communities (remote and urban) exacerbate problems with adaptation to change and capacity to respond. Climate change in north Australia cannot be treated in isolation from existing conditions of life and is increasingly affecting Indigenous lives everywhere, becoming a key stimulus for driving Indigenous capacity, response and adaptation to short and long term changes in their physical and social environment.

The Copenhagen Accord declared that deep cuts in global emissions are required “so as to hold the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius”. The Accord called for an assessment that would consider strengthening the long-term goal including “temperature rises of 1.5 degrees”. Since December 2009, 140 countries1 have associated themselves with the Copenhagen Accord. Of these, 85 countries have pledged to reduce their emissions or constrain their growth up to 2020.

There is now global consensus that climate change is a real and significant threat strongly related to anthropogenic causes. The implications are arguably even more relevant for the Asia-Pacific than other regions given its high population levels, large numbers of poor and otherwise vulnerable people and the richness of biodiversity and ecology among its highly diverse countries. It is also a region with some of the greatest potential – both in terms of carbon sequestration capacity and the human resources – to contribute to both mitigation and adaptation efforts. One of the key areas of focus on the current international climate change stage is the role of forests. The significance of this single factor in mitigating, or potentially hastening the process of climate change, is coming to be fully realized. In light of this, and the particularly close linkage between communities in the Asia-Pacific region and the forests upon which many depend, it is imperative that forests play a central role in efforts to manage or adapt to climate change.

For the tourism component, the 4 Pacific countries where tourism is in absolut and/or relative figures the most important economic sector had been preselected: Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa and Palau. After having assessed during the preparatory mission the current situation of tourism and its future projection in these countries, it became clear that, since tourism is mainly driven by the private sector, communities and assisting NGOs, also the the focus of climate change adaptation would habe to be on those partners plus government entities wherever they play a role to direct tourism development.

The effects of climate change require strong actions from policy-makers, extension officers and communities to strengthen resilience to the expected negative impacts. Sea-level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and other effects cannot be avoided, but there are many means to reduce the vulnerability of communities. To equip the actors in this adaptation process with the right tools, the Regional Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region is setting up a knowledge management system including a database on climate change. A collection of best practices from the region and other parts of the world will be part of this venture. The collection of best practices from the region will be completed by the thematic teams of SPC Land Resources Division. This desk-study gathers examples from across the globe.

Coastal communities in the Pacific are without doubt some of the most vulnerable to climate change effects in the world. The limited land area in some countries and low profile of atolls (many only 3m above sea level at high tide) exacerbate the vulnerability of these locations, and the governments and people of these countries have limited capacities and resources to cope at all levels.