Pacific Adaptation Strategy Assistance Program (PASAP)

Activities and achievements of the adaptation program

Case studies:
The adaptation program produced a series of case studies, documenting examples of evidence-based climate change decision making in the region.  The four case studies include interviews with community members, government officials and the Australian scientists involved in the projects in those countries. All case studies look at the projected impacts of climate change on the countries in question and how governments and communities can:

• improve planning and governance to deal with increased likelihood of more intense cyclones and weather events (Cook Islands case study)
• deliver food security for increasing populations with decreasing agricultural productivity (Federated States of Micronesia case study)
• build resilience at a community level against changes such as population growth, decreasing availability of food resources, and sea-level rise (Solomon Islands case study)
• ensure groundwater availability for increasing populations with decreasing, and potentially contaminated, supplies (Timor-Leste case study)

Vulnerability and adaptation assessments
The adaptation program also supported several regional and country-based assessments of climate change impacts and potential adaptation measures. These assessments covered a range of sectors: adaptive capacity and governance, coastal management, food security, health, infrastructure and water.

• Regional and country-based reports

Further achievements of the adaptation program include:

• Countries including the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Cook Islands, Niue, the Federated States of Micronesia and Nauru have integrated efforts addressing climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction through support provided towards developing a Joint National Action Plan.
• A regional conference in Samoa in May 2011, Lessons for Future Action, encouraged cooperation on climate change and identified common challenges faced by small island countries. Over 100 representatives from small island states in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean and Timor-Leste attended the event, and shared their challenges and experiences to help improve climate change adaptation in their countries. The results from Lessons for Future Action are available on the Pacific Climate Change Portal website.
• High resolution coastal elevation data was captured using LiDAR technology in Tonga, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, to contribute to coastal modelling and risk assessments. Papua New Guinea fact sheet (PDF - 4.91 MB)
• National Meteorological Services in partner countries now have access to better quality seasonal forecast information that incorporates the effects of a changing climate.
• Pacific island representatives from 15 countries participated in the planning of Australia’s work in the region through a workshop held in Brisbane in 2009.