Dear Readers
SPREP’s Climate Change Division is happy to resume publishing Climate Change Matters, our monthly electronic newsletter in 2013.
Climate Change Matters highlights SPREP’s and its partners’ climate change activities in the region. We would like to greet our readers to the first edition of the year and take the opportunity to welcome your own articles, comment and feedback for inclusion into future editions.
In the Pacific, extreme weather has been at the front of our minds during this cyclone season, in particular the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Evan in Samoa and Fiji.
In Samoa alone, the cost of repairing damage caused by Evan has been estimated at greater than NZ$200 million, 80% of the forest cover on the island of Upolu was stripped away by strong winds and, in a devastating blow to local families, 14 lives were lost.
Director’s Note
About Us
According to the Samoan Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the amount of damage caused by Evan was similar to that from the three previous cyclones Ofa, Val and Heta combined.
The IPCC 4th Report predicted that one of the consequences of climate change in the Pacific would be increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Although the economic cost and lives lost in Cyclone Evan cannot solely be attributed to climate change, increasing exposure of people and economic assets has led to major increases in economic losses from weather and climate related disasters. Addressing current disaster risks, the capacity to deal with them and our responses to the impacts are an excellent starting point for addressing the projected risks of climate change.
To do so, the adaptation and mitigation initiatives and activities you can read about in this Climate Change Matters need replication and up-scaling as appropriate in every community, in every village and in every Pacific Island country and territory.