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Republic of Vanuatu’s First Biennial Transparency Report (FBTR)
Under the Vanuatu’s First Biennial Transparency Report to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Submitted by: Ministry of Climate Change, Republic of Vanuatu
Executive summary
This inaugural Biennial Transparency Report for Vanuatu serves as a comprehensive overview of the nation’s efforts to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. It encompasses critical aspects of Vanuatu’s national circumstances, greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, progress tracking for nationally determined contributions (NDCs), climate change impacts and adaptation strategies, as well as financial and technological support needs and responses related to climate change. Additionally, the report addresses initiatives aimed at averting, minimizing, and addressing loss and damage associated with climate change impacts.
I. National Circumstances and Institutional Arrangements
Vanuatu’s unique geographical and socio-economic context is characterized by its status as a small island developing state (SIDS), facing significant vulnerabilities due to climate change. This section outlines the institutional frameworks in place to facilitate climate governance, including coordination mechanisms among government agencies, civil society, and local communities. The report emphasizes Vanuatu's commitment to integrating climate action into national development plans, promoting resilience, and ensuring sustainable development.
II. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
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This UNDP-supported, GEF-LDCF funded project, "Vanuatu Coastal Adaptation Project (VCAP)", is working to build resilience through improved infrastructure, sustained livelihoods, and increased food production.
These efforts (with National Government as Key Collaborators) aim to improve the quality of life in targeted vulnerable areasor communities in the coastal zone of the island nation.
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Vanuatu is among the most vulnerable countries on earth to the increasing impacts of climate change, including climate-related natural disasters and the effects of slow-onset events such as sea-level rise and ocean acidification.
As the effects of global warming manifest and the hazards of climate change arise at accelerating rates, there is a need to shift the paradigm towards the standardised and mainstreamed use of science-based climate information, at multiple timescales, to support resilient development pathways.
The proposed project will support this paradigm shift through the strengthening and application of Climate Information Services (CIS) in five targeted development sectors: tourism; agriculture; infrastructure; water and fisheries.
More specifically, the project will build the technical capacity in Vanuatu to harness and manage climate data; develop and deliver practical CIS tools and resources; support enhanced coordination and dissemination of tailored information; enhance CIS information and technology infrastructure; and support the application of relevant CIS through real-time development processes, for more resilient outcomes.
The project has a focus on addressing information gaps and priority needs of target beneficiaries at national, provincial and local community levels across the five priority sectors.
The project will deliver enhanced:
capacity and capability of national development agents, to understand, access and apply CIS
CIS communications, knowledge products, tools, and resources for practical application to development processes.
reliability, functionality, utility and timeliness of underlying CIS delivery systems and data collection infrastructure.
scientific data, information and knowledge of past, present and future climate to facilitate innovated and resilient development.
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The Effectiveness of Formal and Traditional Learning about Climate and Disaster Resilience in Vanuatu
by Charles Andrew Evan Pierce
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Organizational Expertise Justification:
Members of the consortium have been working in Vanuatu for over 30 years. We have extensive experience working together and with the government of Vanuatu to help address the immediate and long-term needs of Vanuatu communities across the country. We also have strong experience in helping communities recover from the impacts of disaster events.
Members of this consortium were the key partners in a three year, DFAT-supported AU$2 million community-based adaptation project – Yumi stap redi long klaemet jenis – which pioneered a comprehensive approach to helping communities and local governments prepare for, and manage the immediate impacts of climate variability and extremes, while building the capacity of women, men, girls and boys to develop climate-resilient development pathways. CARE and Save the Children built on this foundation to implement a further 16-month, USAID-supported US$0.5 million community-based adaptation project, while Oxfam implemented a further three-year, Margaret A. Cargill-supported US$847,000 community-based resilience program which continued to build on existing networks and aimed to increase collaboration, knowledge sharing and support between communities, NGOs, relevant government departments and development partners around increasing community and government resilience. Our agencies have also worked in collaboration with communities from across the six provinces of Vanuatu, national civil society organisations and government to develop and implement disaster risk reduction projects, such as the DiPECHO funded “Be Better Prepared (Yumi Redi)” series of projects that focused on community-based disaster risk reduction activities and encouraged communities to form Disaster Management Committees and to support sustainable development action across a range of key sectors, including: livelihoods; water, sanitation and hygiene; education; and gender equality.
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The Government of Vanuatu, with the guidance of the Recovery Operations Centre (ROC) conducted a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) with support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Pacific Community (SPC). The PDNA, which took place during the months of April and May 2023, was implemented in collaboration with ADB, FAO, UNFPA, UNWOMEN, UNICEF, WHO, ILO, the World Bank.
The purpose of the PDNA was to identify the damage and loss caused by TC Judy and Kevin across all sectors, to assess the macro-economic and human impact of these disasters, to estimate the recovery needs in all sectors, and to inform Vanuatu’s short-, medium- and long-term recovery and reconstruction process through a well-planned Recovery Plan aligned to the country’s National Sustainable Development Plan 2016-2030. This report presents the final results of the PDNA.
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GENDER EQUALITY, DISABILITY, AND SOCIAL INCLUSION (GEDSI) ACTION PLAN FOR CLIMATE INFORMATION SERVICES FOR RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT IN VANUATU (VAN KIRAP)
A Roadmap to Promoting Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion in Climate Information Services in Vanuatu.
This gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) action plan has been developed for SPREP for the country of Vanuatu. It has been produced in addition to a GEDSI analysis for the Climate Information Services for Resilient Development in Vanuatu (Van KIRAP) project.
Following the United Nations Climate Change Gender Action Plan, this gender, disability and social inclusion action plan sets out outcomes and outputs under five priority areas that aim to advance knowledge and understanding of gender and inclusion-responsive climate action and mainstreaming.
1. Capacity building, knowledge management and communication
2. Gender balance, inclusive participation, and inclusive leadership
3. Coherence
4. Gender and inclusive-responsive implementation and means of implementation
5. Monitoring and reporting
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The VanKIRAP Technical Report - Cost Recovery Mechanism and Models Appropriate for the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-hazards Department.
The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-hazards Department (VMGD) is a government department within the Ministry of Climate Change, Meteorology, Geo-hazards, Energy, Environment and Disaster Management. The department was established under the Vanuatu Meteorological Service Act of 1989. The Meteorology, Geological Hazards and Climate Change Act of 2016 superseded this Act replaced. The new Act gives direction to the operations of VMGD. Specifically, it directs the department to collect, collate and make available meteorological, climate, climate change, and geohazard data and information, including archiving such data or information, amongst other duties (Republic of Vanuatu, 2017). Furthermore, the Act allows the department to achieve its mandate of installing and maintaining a national network of meteorological observation stations and all other necessary technical installations and equipment (Republic of Vanuatu, 2017).
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Director General , Mrs Esline Garaebiti ( brief statement):
The year 2021 also set milestones for the ministry in reviewing existing policies and legal frameworks with the development of relevant indicators targets. The Climate change and Disaster Risk Reduction policy 2022-2030 is reviewed and its implementation plan was developed. Other reporting required under the United nation framework convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been completed, particularly the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the Third National Communication (TNC), and the First Biennial Updated Report (FBUR). Numerous materials for education, outreach, and awareness have been developed by all departments and disseminated during national and international days for Meteorology, Environment, Disaster, Energy, and Climate Change.
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Director General's - Mrs Esline Garaebiti Statement brief:
The year 2022 was a challenging and successful one for the Ministry of Climate Change. The achievements outlined herein, is a demonstration of a strong and dedicated team effort by the Ministry. The year 2022 began with the COVID19 lock down of nearly two months, which set us some challenging targets. This meant reprioritising existing work schedules, adjusting budgets and resource flows as well as mobilizing staff to ensure the deadlines were met while still balancing the need to keep on track with existing initiatives and priorities. I will leave the Directors in their Department Reports to provide details on the successful achievement according to their Business Plans activities for the year. I wish to point out that this would not have been achieved without the hard work of the officers serving on the Ministry ofClimate Change team
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The Paris Agreement was adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015, during the 21st session of Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and entered into force on 4 November 2016. This landmark agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change and requires all Parties to establish robust measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems and to communicate their efforts to UNFCCC. In this context, on 22-Jul-21, GEF approved a project identification form (PIF) and project preparation grant (PPG) submitted by FAO titled ‘Strengthening capacity in the Energy, Agriculture, Forestry, and other Land-use Sectors for Enhanced Transparency in the Implementation and Monitoring of Vanuatu’s Nationally Determined Contribution’.
The project aims to develop Vanuatu’s institutional and human capacities for complying with Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) reporting requirements of the Paris Agreement, and implementation and monitoring of Vanuatu’s Nationally Determined Contribution focusing on Energy, Agriculture, Forestry and other Land-use Sectors. With the MOCC Department of Environment Protection and Conservation (DEPC) of Vanuatu & Department of Climate Change as executing partner, and CBIT as resource partner, the GEF-7 has entrusted FAO for the preparation and implementation of the project.
The project will be executed under the following components and outcomes:
Project Component 1: Strengthening Vanuatu’s institutional arrangements for a robust MRV system for NDC climate change mitigation and adaptation actions.
Outcomes of Project Component 1:
1.1 NDC transparency system in place following the UNFCCC modalities, procedures, and guidelines.
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Vanuatu National Community-based Climate Change Adaptation Project (provisional) Project Profile Form
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Vanuatu is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and disaster risks, routinely being at or near the top of global risk indexes. This high ranking is primarily due to the country’s extreme exposure to natural hazards as well as its limited adaptive capacity. Temperatures in Vanuatu have already increased by approximately 1˚C and are expected to increase further by at least 1˚C by 2030, with increases of up to 3.2˚C by 2090. This increase in temperature is coupled with an increase in sea level of approximately 6mm annually since 1993. This increase is expected to continue and accelerate into the future, with cumulative increases of up to 17cm by 2030 and 63cm by 2090. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is also predicted to increase, and the changing profile of cyclones, storm surges, landslides, flooding, and droughts will result in severe impacts on lives, livelihoods and infrastructure across Vanuatu, affecting both human communities and natural ecosystems.
In recent years, the Government of Vanuatu (GoV) has taken significant steps to improve resilience to natural disasters and adaptive capacity to climate change adaptation. These steps include:
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The Vanuatu National Climate Change Disaster Risk Reduction Policy 2022 - 2030 second edtion
Vanuatu is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and disaster risks. The island nation experiences cyclones, storm surges, landslides, flooding and droughts, which may become more intense as a result of climate change. Vanuatu is also highly exposed to geophysical threats such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as human, animal and plant diseases, and human-caused disasters.
The vision of this Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Policy is for Vanuatu to be a nation whose communities, environment and economy are resilient to the impacts of climate change and disaster risks. Risks cannot be completely eliminated; however, this policy provides a framework through which risks can be identified, assessed, reduced and managed.
At the global, regional and national levels, disaster risk reduction and climate change agencies, activities and funding have been previously managed separately. A recent shift in philosophy now views the integration of climate change and disaster risk reduction initiatives as the best way to make use of resources and avoid duplication of effort. Vanuatu started this process with the establishment of the National Advisory Board on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction in 20121 . The government undertook a risk governance assessment to analyse Vanuatu’s climate change and disaster risk governance capacity and needs at both national and local levels.2 The policy incorporates recommendations from that assessment and draws on local, provincial and national consultations.
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The UNOSAT- NORAD Project Presentation,being presented to the NAB Members on the 3rd NAB Meeting on 19th of July 2022, for the NAB Board Members to endorsed the Project.
Presenter: Ian Huri, CommonSensing, UNOSAT
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Vanuatu submits this updated and enhanced nationally determined contribution (NDC), in which our politicalleaders, technical experts and civil society have considered how our nation can move to a global net-zerogreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions society (Article 4.1) whilst being resilient to the unavoidable impacts ofclimate change (Article 7.1), minimising, averting and addressing loss and damage (Article 8) in the contextof the long-term temperature goal (Article 2), while determining our financial needs (Article 9) that shall beprovided by developed country Parties in continuation of their existing obligations under the UNFCCC.Vanuatu is already a carbon-negative country. With forests covering 70% of its islands, and its maritimejurisdiction comprising 98% of the nation, the big ocean state of Vanuatu is already a carbon sink -absorbing more carbon dioxide than it produces - thus freely providing a critical environmental serviceto carbon emitting countries around the world. Moving beyond our current Net Zero status, this NDCrecommits Vanuatu to rapidly phasing out fossil fuels, deeply decarbonising and transitioning completelyto a circular economy.Pursuant to Article 4 of the Paris Agreement, and to demonstrate that Vanuatu is an action-focused leaderin its calls for all Parties to make ambitious commitments to limit the global average temperature increase to1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, Vanuatu’s NDC reflects the highest ambitions on adaptation, mitigation,and loss and damage. As per Decision 4/CMA.1, Vanuatu’s information provides clarity, transparency andunderstanding.This updated and enhanced NDC contains 20 Mitigation commitments, 116 Adaptation commitments, 12Loss & Damage commitments and is based on the ambitions, policies and workplans of Vanuatu's frontlinesector agencies.
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There is a significant body of research being conducted examining the role of Kastom. As this project is focusing on legal frameworks it will build on existing projects. Key components involve a literature review and conducting a series of interviews. This PhD will be by publication. This will mean that a series of academic journal articles will be written through the projects duration.
This project will add value to understanding in terms of how Customary ( Kastom) Law may be incorporated in to international environmental law pertaining to Global Climate Change Adaptation. As normative frameworks are failing to address this global threat, perhaps Kastom may hold some of the answers as to how people may be reconnected to their life supporting environments.
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The Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) is based on the philosophy that efficient management of the climatic risks today is the foundation for managing the changed climatic risks of tomorrow. Sound scientific knowledge underpins this foundation. Where they exist, climate services are extremely effective. Prominent user sectors are agriculture, water management, health, disaster risk reduction, planning and energy. But there is a wide gap between the needs for climate services and their current provision in climate-vulnerable developing countries and especially in their communities.
Communities in Vanuatu have always related to the climate and weather in their own context. Being highly exposed to risks of extreme events such as tropical cyclones, flooding and droughts, communities have naturally adapted in their own ways. They are able to use their surroundings to indicate in advance the different weather extremes they are likely to face. These careful observations of their surrounding have allowed them to come up with their own traditional forecasting methods which have been tested and proven to be very reliable.
In parts of the country where communication is still a challenge, communities continue to rely on their knowledge of the environment to guide their preparedness for extreme events. While there is promise in the use of this traditional based science, there are also challenges.
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PEBACC is a five year project funded by the German Government, implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to explore and promote ecosystem-based options for adapting to climate change. The overall intended outcome of the project is: EbA is integrated into development, climate change adaptation responses, and natural resource management policy and planning processes in three Pacific island countries (Vanuatu, Fiji and Solomon Islands) providing replicable models for other countries in the region.
Overall Goal:
· Natural adaptation solutions are fully integrated into development, climate change adaptation and NRM policy and planning processes in four ecologically and geographically diverse Pacific island countries, also providing replicable models for other countries in the region, and is successfully demonstrated through implementation at national, provincial and local levels.The project will employ staff in Vanuatu; In addition to a SPREP Officer who will be the Vanuatu component project leader for this project and may be based in Vanuatu; One or two locally hired positions will directly support the project implementation and develop linkages to other projects and programmes, it is proposed that a locally hired position will be located within the SPC-GIZ CCCPIR.
Relevant projects and strategy to avoid duplication:
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The Vanuatu Carbon Sydicate is the interim body seeking NAB endorsement. It comprises Samson Busai, Ephraim Songi and other, with funding being arranged by Jim Batty of Summit Estate Limited.
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The project consists mainly of workshops and meetings to strengthen the existing Technical Committee for REDD+. Some outreach will also take place for stakeholders in Port Vila not yet involved in REDD+ but who have a role to play. This will include NGO/CSO players and the private sector. LLEE will support the design and implementation of consultations on the REDD+ Social Environmental Strategic Assessment to ensure they are effective.
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This project aims to Respond Vanuatu’s obligations under para 29 of CMA3 UNFCCC decision, and to the urgent call by UN Secretary General, UNFCCC SG and COP26/COP27 Presidencies for all countries to submit a more ambitious NDC before COP27 to reflect national sectoral priorities and highest-level ambitions on adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage.
Vanuatu’s 2021 NDC mitigation component remains the same, while 166 Adaptation Targets and 12 Loss & Damage Targets have been added, based fully on 38 existing sector policies.
The expected outcome of this NDC revision is to ensure that Vanuatu’s highest level climate priorities of adaptation and loss & damage are reflected, and that Vanuatu’s NDC comprehensively addresses all contributions it plans to make to meet the Goals of the Paris Agreement. This will support Vanuatu in its efforts to raise international climate finance, as well as showcase the severity of climate impacts and need for urgent action in support of grassroots communities and islands.
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