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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.
Project
Starting Situation
Seagrass, mangroves and salt marshes sequester carbon at rates up to 66 times faster than terrestrial forests and store up to 5 times more carbon per hectare. Pacific Island Countries (PICs) possess significant Seagrass and Mangrove (SaM) resources, providing further ecosystem services related to shoreline protection, food security, tourism revenue and water quality. Habitat loss has been increasing rapidly, yet no adequate baselines exist to determine extent of habitats, rates of loss, or design of targeted management solutions. Methods for the assessment of carbon stocks and emissions in SaM areas exist since 2012, but have not been applied consistently to SaM areas in PICs. Policy makers and researchers note the urgent need to collect nationally relevant SaM data based on consistent methods, that ensure transparency and traceability to mitigate the loss of the world’s coastal carbon sinks and reduce the decline of coastal biodiversity.
Short Project Description
In close collaboration with national and regional partners (SPREP, SPC, USP, CSIRO, CIFOR) and the “Blue Planet” Initiative within the global Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the project will be mapping the SaM status in each of the 4 partner countries, and will assess related carbon storage capacity and ecosystem services. Resulting national inventories of SaM habitats, and associated blue carbon sinks and ecosystem service values will support government partners and policy makers in their efforts to strategically develop and implement conservation, management and rehabilitation efforts. Governments will be assisted to establish nationally appropriate incentives for sustainable management and rehabilitation efforts based on the quantification and documentation of SaM carbon stocks and the resulting emission reductions as part of NDCs and National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs).
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The “Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific” referred to hereafter as SWAP project aims to improve sanitation, environmental, social, and economic conditions in Pacific Island countries and territories through proper waste management.
To achieve this, the overall work focuses on three streams of wastes: used oil, marine debris, disaster wastes and an overarching issue on sustainable financing mechanisms.
Six countries and territories benefit from this overall project which include Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
Marine litter is one of the main issues that the SWAP project tries to address as Pacific islands are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of marine debris, due to the particular value and sensitivity of their coastal environments. A report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has revealed that there are now over 150 million tonnes of plastics in the oceans. That's about one tonne of plastics for every three tonnes of fish. If the trend continues, plastics will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050.
As behaviour change is a priority in order to address this problem of marine litter in a sustainable way, the SWAP project has produced a video to raise awareness of the problem of marine litter: ‘PLASTIC PARADISE’. This video is available in English and French as well as Fijian, Samoan, Pidgin, Tongan and Bislama.
This video is the intellectual property of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), and therefore may be used for educational or non-profit services without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. SPREP would appreciate receiving information on the use of the video: audience, purpose, etc. by completing this ‘SPREP/SWAP Marine Litter Awareness Video Use Request Form’.
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Van-KIRAP technical report on Marine Heat Waves - "Van-KIRAP technical report on Marine Heat Waves"
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IUCN Marine & Coastal Biodiversity in Pacific Islands Countries & Atolls Project (MACBIO) is supporting the Vanuatu Government achieve sustainable management of ecosystems and marine resources in country. Natural resources in marine and coastal areas are of high importance for Vanuatu and sustain the livelihoods of coastal communities. However, the need to use marine resources sustainably is not well reflected in national planning processes, due in part to insufficient information regarding their economic value and lack of concerted marine spatial planning.
MACBIO project 2013-2018 aims to help Vanuatu to meet their commitments under the CBD Strategic Plan 2011-2020 and the relevant Aichi targets, including the Programme of Work on Protected Areas (POWPA) and the Programme of Work on Island Biodiversity (POWIB) Specifically, the project aims to enhance ecosystem-based management and support more effectively managed marine resources which should lead to more resilient coastal and marine economies, more sustainable use of marine biodiversity, and will contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as securing and strengthening local livelihoods. Tried and tested concepts and instruments will be adopted in Vanuatu.
The MACBIO project is being implemented by GIZ with technical support from IUCN-Oceania in close collaboration with SPREP.
. The IUCN components of the project aim to achieve the following outcome and outputs:
Outputs (specific project goals):
An ocean-wide policy and spatial planning framework
Project
Pacific Tool for Resilience
PARTneR will enable Pacific government Ministries and stakeholder organisation to effectively developed and used risk-based information to support development decision making on DRR & DRM
PARTneR will tailor RiskScape, a disaster impact mapping and modelling software developed jointly with New Zealand NIWA and GNS science.
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This policy document is a result of various consultations among stakeholders convened to review the livestock policy. It addresses the challenges and constraints arising from the daily activities farmers, traders and the average Ni-Vanuatu faces on a daily basis. This document is consistent with current government strategies stipulated in the sector wide Overarching Productive Sector Policy (2012) and National Sustainable Development Plan 2016 to 2030 developed by the Government. It also covers a wide range of issues of biosecurity including animal health, plant health, trade facilitation and emergency response planning. This policy also highlight the importance of climate impacts which affects the primary sector and the flow on effect which give rise to increased pest and disease incidences: the effects of which biosecurity is left to deal with.
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The Government of Vanuatu has decided to develop an oceans policy, which aligns with recommendations from theCommonwealth Secretariat.This report summarises the main findings1 of an analysis and assessment of 69 instruments of legislation andsubordinate policies and plans that are relevant to management and use of Vanuatu’s territorial waters and thereforerelevant to the development of the national oceans policy. The review of Vanuatu’s legislation, policies, strategies andplans relating to oceans management is part of the Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific IslandCountries (MACBIO) project.The approach to the review involved an analytical framework comprising three components:1. Individual analysis of legislation, policies, strategies and plans;2. Integration of individual analyses into an assessment table for comparative analysis and assessment; and3. A report which provides an assessment narrative based on the individual analyses and the information from theassessment table.
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Vanuatu Marine Ecosystem Service Valuation SUMMARY & Final report
This study,conducted in 2015, aimed to determine the economic value of seven marine and coastal ecosystem services in Vanuatu. The study forms part of the broader MACBIO project (Marine and Coastal Biodiversity Management in Pacific Island Countries and Atolls) that aims to strengthen the management of marine and coastal biodiversity in Pacific island countries.
The role that natural ecosystems, especially marine ecosystems, play in human wellbeing is often overlooked or taken for granted. The benefits humans receive from ecosystems, called ecosystem services, are often hidden because markets do not directly reveal their value – nature provides these benefits for free. Failure to recognize the role that marine ecosystems play in supporting livelihoods, economic activity, and human wellbeing has, in many instances, led to inequitable and unsustainable resource management decisions.
Coastal and marine resources provide Ni-Vanuatu businesses, households, and government many real and measurable benefits. The exclusive economic zone of Vanuatu, nearly 700,000 square kilometers of ocean, is more than 50 times larger than the country’s land area. This report, describes, quantifies and, where sufficient data is available, estimates the economic value of many of Vanuatu’s marine and coastal ecosystem services, in an effort to inform sustainable and equitable management decisions and support national marine spatial planning.
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This vocabulary was created as part of the Griffith University Pacific iClim Project. The Project has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade initiative Government Partnerships for Development Program to support SPREP in implementing a regional approach to climate change data and information management throughout the Pacific.
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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 2012.1 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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Vanuatu 2030 is our National Sustainable Development Plan for the period 2016 to 2030, and serves as the country's highest level policy framework. It is founded on our culture, traditional knowledge and Christian principles, and builds on our development journey since Independence in 1980. We have already achieved a great deal,as we have encountered many difficulties and setbacks, some from natural disasters. Our most recent national plan, the Prioritiesand Action Agenda 2006-2015 sought to deliver a just, educated, healthy and wealthy Vanuatu. It was the first concerted attempt to link policy and planning to the limited resources of government. As we look ahead to the next 15 years, we now seek to further extend the linkages between resources, policy and planning to the people and place they exist to serve. In effect our development journey remains on the same course, but we are upgrading the vehicle to get us there in a more holistic and inclusive way
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Climate change, resulting from both natural and anthropogenic factors, is expected to affect virtually every aspect of marine ecosystem structure and function from community composition and biogeochemical cycling, to the prevalence of diseases. Climate can affect all life-history stages through direct and indirect processes and the possible effects of climate change for marine populations include changes in population dynamics (body size, reproduction), community composition and geographical distributions. Climate change can be expected to affect populations, habitats, and ecosystems differently depending on their underlying characteristics (ICES 2011a, b). Although there are many uncertainties about the rates and spatial structure of future climate change, the probable and potential changes need to be considered in ecosystem management planning.
Ecosystems are complex, dynamic networks of interacting abiotic and biotic components, with a certain intrinsic capacity to adapt to perturbations such as climate change. Within ecosystems, it is individual organisms that perceive and respond to perturbations either directly through physical responses to abiotic factors or indirectly through interaction mechanisms such as predation and competition. When large numbers of individuals are affected, the response reverberates through higher levels of organization.
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The Pacific Islands region is experiencing climate change. Key indicators of the changingclimate include rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, rising air and sea temperatures,rising sea levels and upper-ocean heat content, changing ocean chemistry and increasingocean acidity, changing rainfall patterns, decreasing base flow in streams, changingwind and wave patterns, changing extremes, and changing habitats and species distributions.Currently, the most vulnerable areas include low islands (atoll islands and otherislands that rise only a few feet above present sea level), nearshore and coastal areas,and coral reefs. High-elevation (particularly alpine and subalpine) ecosystems are alsovulnerable. The climatic changes are affecting every aspect of life. Freshwater suppliesfor natural systems, as well as communities and businesses, are at risk. Food security isthreatened through impacts on both agriculture and fisheries. The built environment isalso at risk from coastal flooding and erosion as sea levels incrementally increase. Lossof habitat for endangered species such as monk seals, sea turtles, and Laysan ducks isexpected along with increased coral bleaching episodes, expansion of avian malaria tohigher elevations, and changes in the distribution and survival of the areas’ marine biodiversity.Over the coming decades, impacts are expected to become more widespreadand more severe.
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“Adaptation to Climate Change in the Coastal Zone in Vanuatu” or the Vanuatu Coastal Adaptation Project (VCAP), will provide a valuable opportunity to the Vanuatu government to increase the resilience of its communities to future climate change induced risks such as declining coastal and marine resources and intensifying climate related hazards. The overall objective of VCAP is to improve the resilience of the coastal zone and its communities to the impacts of climate change in order to sustain livelihoods, food production and preserve and improve the quality of life in targeted vulnerable areas.
VCAP will focus on community level adaptation to climate change and will address major environmental and associated socio-economic problems facing coastal communities impacted by climate change such as land degradation, biodiversity loss, and reef destruction, all of which severely undermine prospects for sustainable development and threaten the food security of coastal communities. The project will also build on and enhance CC adaptation initiatives through climate-proofing of infrastructure as needed.
VCAP will also support information and early warning systems on coastal hazards to address the current lack of systematic analysis and prediction of climate-related events. Thus coastal communities will be less vulnerable to the effects of climate change with improved information management and data dissemination systems in place.
This bi-monthly progress report details the various activities conducted from March to April of 2015. This is the first of an ongoing series of VCAP bimonthly reports. The following sections provide detail on initial activies conducted through VCAP after TC Pam and in preparation for the inception phase of project implementation.
This Report features the following Contents:
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Ocean warming may well turn out to be the greatest hidden challenge of our generation. This report represents the most comprehensive review to date on ocean warming. To build up the report, leading scientists from around the world were invited to join with colleagues to contribute individual chapters. It contains many recommendations from the scientists on capability gaps and research issues that need to be resolved if we are to tackle the impacts of ocean warming with greater confidence in the future. The focus of the report is on gathering facts and knowledge and communicating this to show what is now happening in and to the ocean. There is purposefully much less focus on political ramifications. We hope that this report will help stimulate further debate and action on such issues.
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Climate Adaptation Methodology for Protected Areas (CAMPA) Coastal and Marine is designed to build the resilience of protected areas and associated ecosystems based on a thorough understanding of their vulnerability to climate change and a participatory agreement on the best ways to respond to these threats. With minor adjustments the methodology could be adapted to terrestrial and freshwater protected areas.
CAMPA does two main things:
• It provides practical and scientifically sound guidance to facilitate climate change vulnerability assessments of coastal and marine protected areas (CMPAs).
• Based on an understanding of that vulnerability, it then facilitates decisionmaking on the most appropriate adaptation actions.
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Erosion is the process where soft shorelines (sand, gravel
or cobble) disappear and land is lost. Erosion generally
comes in two forms; 1) A natural part of the coastal environment
where a soft shore moves and changes in response to
cyclic climatic conditions, and 2) Erosion can be induced by
human interference of natural sand movement and budget
patterns. Erosion can be slow and ongoing over many
years or fast and dramatic following large storm events.
Many erosion problems in the Pacific today, occur because
of poor planning, inappropriate shoreline development, over
crowding, beach mining for building material and due to reef
degradation.
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Powerpoint presentations to promote awareness of impacts of climate change and practical adaptations.
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Set of 5 posters giving awareness of need to protect yourself & to protect the ozone layer
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Powerpoint presentation to promote awareness of impacts of climate change and practical adaptations.
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DVD of a case study of adaption to climate change-work of Youth in reef conservation around Pele isIand.
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Climate change, resulting from both
natural and anthropogenic factors, is
expected to affect virtually every aspect
of marine ecosystem structure
and function from community composition
and biogeochemical cycling,
to the prevalence of diseases. Climate
can affect all life-history stages
through direct and indirect processes
and the possible effects of climate
change for marine populations include
changes in population dynamics
(body size, reproduction), community
composition and geographical
distributions.
Document