OWNING ADAPTATION IN THE PACIFIC Strengthening governance of climate adaptation finance

From NACCC to NAB in Vanuatu
As with other Pacific countries, Vanuatu has begun to investigate the integration of climate change
and disaster risk management into one structure.9 According to an April 2012 government report, “The
current separation between climate change and disaster risk management has led to stakeholder
confusion, duplication of efforts, excessive time and resource demands on a limited number of actors,
weak governance arrangements and a less effective delivery of services to ni-Vanuatu people.”10
The process of integration involves a range of tasks:
• Combining a series of overlapping strategic policy documents, including Vanuatu’s UNFCCC
National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA), the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS)
and National Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management 2006–2016;
• Creating unified governance structures and processes. Until now disaster work has been managed
through the Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Management National Action Plan Task Force
(NTF), housed under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In contrast, the body that oversees climate
change implementation, the National Advisory Committee on Climate Change (NACCC), is located
under the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, chaired through the Vanuatu Meteorological
and Geohazards Department;
• Passing new legislation beyond the existing National Disaster Act of 2000 to fully enable climate
change and disaster risk integration (in contrast to the NTF, NACCC currently operates without
formal legislation);
• Establishing a system of monitoring, reporting and verification on adaptation initiatives. 11
The reform process is supported by locally based consultants funded by the World Bank and jointly by
the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the German Agency for International Development
(GIZ), as well as technical advice from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme
(SPREP), SPC and other regional networks.
In February 2012, the Vanuatu government held a workshop to discuss the shift to a new coordinating
structure. The aim was to effectively merge the structures that currently manage work on disaster and
climate responses into a single national advisory board (NAB). This board officially came into existence
in May 2012, replacing the NACCC, and is made up of senior officials with clear tasks and mandates,
detailed in legislation. A fully staffed Project Management Unit is being created as the NAB secretariat,
based at the Vanuatu Meteorological and Geohazards Department.12 The government has explicitly
requested public feedback on the proposed structures, as well as draft legislation to implement the
changes.
As detailed in the case study, Creating a civil society climate network in Vanuatu in Chapter 2,
Strengthening partnerships and coordination, Vanuatu civil society organisations have formed a
Climate Change Network, and local and international NGOs are working together on disaster responses
through the Vanuatu Humanitarian Team. This networking has allowed them to come together to
present common responses to government, especially over proposals in the draft legislation that
might restrict their work on the ground.