Vanuatu NAB Search
The next meeting of the IEC Working Group is 9am Thursday 15th November, VMGD Training Room (next to the Conference Room)
Draft Agenda:
- Provide a brief update to colleagues who have been out of the office or recently joined us on
· what the IEC endorsement process is + how it was developed,
· how it links in with the NAB-PMU and the NDMO DRR+CC Working Group
- Start the NAB IEC endorsement process as an active process, accessible to all organisations as of Thursday 15th Nov
- Report to the group on current status of NAB Web Portal Resource Database
- Workshop any materials group members would like to submit to the group.
- Agree on an ongoing meeting schedule and chair
For those who haven’t attended a meeting, I have attached the Terms of Reference for your information (this needs to be updated to reflect the ongoing tasks of the group) and a concept paper regarding the endorsement process. Membership of the working group is open to any organisation who has interest in the development of CC or DRR information, education and communication materials. Working Group meetings are tentatively planned to occur on a monthly basis.
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In collaboration with national meteorological services, the PCCSP has developed eight-page brochures that present country-specific information about the past, current and future climate of each of the partner countries. These brochures can be accessed from the following links.
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DoF is organising stakeholder consultations on development of a planted forests legislation. Contact Hanington Tate [hanington_tate@yahoo.com]
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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.
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Learn how to rapidly multiply bananas for disaster response and climate adaptation. Contact Christopher.Bartlett@giz.de
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Emergency call to all conservation-minded resident scuba divers in Port Vila to help reduce COTs numbers in the Paul's Rock area, NWest Efate.
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Training for Pele Island Beekeepers how to adapt their hves and husbandry to climate change. Contact Christopher Bartlett. Christopher.Bartlett@giz.de
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Ralph Regenvanu is a Vanuatu Member
of Parliament and Director of the Vanuatu
National Cultural Council. This article is an
edited version of a speech presented at
“Pacific Islands and the World” Conference
in Brisbane, 3 August 2009. The full
speech is available at: http://aidwatch.org.
au/publications/the-traditional-economyas-the-source-of-resilience-in-melanesia
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The National Consultation on Policy and Programmatic Actions to Address High Food Prices for
Vanuatu was held at the Le Lagon Resort, Port Vila on 16-17 April 2012. Vanuatu is one of the
four countries selected by FAO to hold further dialogue following the Sub-Regional Consultation
on High Food Prices for the Pacific sub-region that was held in Nadi, Fiji in 2011. The other
countries included the Cook Islands, Niue and the Solomon Islands. The meeting was convened
by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Quarantine, Forestry and Fisheries (MALQFF);
and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
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In August 2008, Pacific leaders at the 39th Pacific Island Forum, held in Niue, acknowledged the
high importance of food security as an emerging issue. The leaders committed their governments
to "immediate action to address food security issues nationally and where possible, regionally,
through a range of measures across key sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, health, trade and
transport". Similar concerns had been widely discussed and recommended at the 7th Pacific
Health Ministers Meeting in March 2007 held in Vanuatu for a whole-of-society approach to noncommunicable
disease prevention and control, a regional approach to food fortification, including
the convening of a food summit with representatives of key ministries; health, agriculture, trade
and finance.
This decision had received strong support from the Pacific island countries Agriculture Ministers
Meeting and the Trade Ministers Meeting. In his official speech the acting Prime Minister and
Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Ham Lini reiterated the Government commitment to ensure…” that
all the progress being made and the ideas being developed will be on the table for the Pacific
Islands Food Summit and the agenda for the next Pacific Island Forum meeting”.
Furthermore the current global economic crisis is negatively impacting economic growth, trade
employment and health in the Pacific islands countries including Vanuatu. In this context, "food
security" has become an issue of national priority as commodity prices fluctuate but generally
trend higher that they have been in recent years. Political leaders and communities around the
world and closer to home are recognizing the impact that climate change is having on economies
and agriculture production and therefore food security and health.
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Can you inform staff that the climate section next week will be engaged in meeting and a workshop (Wednesday) to develop and agree on a framework for collection of TK in Vanuatu.
As well as the work on traditional knowledge the team from Australia will do the following while we are there:
Activity
Timing
Meetings required
Capacity mapping
Friday
Karen, climate staff and Jotham to discuss.
Communication Strategy
Friday
Karen, climate staff and Jotham to discuss.
COSPPac products
Wednesday Brown paper Lunch Seminar
Sheng to discuss and demonstrate new products including SCOPIC and the ocean portal.
IT check
As suits you and your staff
Sheng to meet with IT staff to:
Conduct inventory of products and services, especially the services delivered through the web.
Check infrastructure, including power supply, network, server room availability, condition and reliability, etc.
Assess the NMSs capacity in development and maintenance
Thanks
Salesa
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Dear colleagues,
as discussed on the phone, I am planning to come to Vanuatu and support you in the R-PP process.
We are currently in the process of hiring a consultant company that is in parallel working with Suriname and Cameroon on their R-PPs. Countries which have a similar road map and pressure as Vanuatu. I think, this expertise will be of great help. We will produce the data they need and they will produce the R-PP for submission January 10 2013. In the improvement work between January and March, they will pay a visit to Vanuatu as well to consolidate the very final version.
The company is UNIQUE, and based in Freiburg, Germany. I will forward the profile as soon as I receive it. Contact person will be Dr. Jochen Statz. If you are interested, you can find information here: http://www.unique-forst.de/v2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=56&lang=en
I will arrive in Vanuatu on Tuesday November 13 and would like to call a planning meeting at 2 pm. Please let me know your availability and the location. It would also be good to speak to the new PAU accountant.
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Economic growth in Vanuatu has not matched the current population growth of 3% per
annum. This high population growth rate, coupled with a rapid increase in the number of people
migrating into the two main urban centres and increasing unemployment, is creating social and
economic problems. These problems are exacerbated by external shocks, such as world price
instability, and internal shocks, due to natural and man-made disasters, which have a negative
impact on the composition, stability and reliability of food availability and entitlements in
Vanuatu.
Food security means the ability to grow and purchase food as needed. It is influenced by
factors such as income levels, domestic and export markets, and natural resources. Food
insecurity in Vanuatu is not primarily a case of inadequate volumes of food to feed people. At
present, it is more related to what can be termed “hidden hunger”, or deficiencies of vital
micronutrients in people’s diets. In rural areas, it is related to people eating unbalanced diets. In
urban areas, it is related to changes in people’s eating habits, shifting away from nutritionally
rich traditional staples to imported, less nutritious food items.
Poverty as known in other parts of the world does not exist in Vanuatu. People are more
or less financially poor, but not materially poor. This is due to many factors but particularly to
secure land ownership for most of the population. Approximately 95% of land in Vanuatu is
traditionally owned. Therefore, access to land by the majority of the population in rural areas
means food can be produced for home consumption, while cash crops and livestock can also be
raised for cash income. However, with the current rapid population growth rate, more land will
be cultivated for food and cash income. Therefore, pressure on this fundamental resource is
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The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) secretariat has produced this book to
highlight the concerns and needs of developing countries
in adapting to the effects of climate change. This book
outlines the impact of climate change in four developing
country regions: Africa, Asia, Latin America and small
island developing States; the vulnerability of these regions
to future climate change; current adaptation plans,
strategies and actions; and future adaptation options
and needs.
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Regional training workshop on the identification and development of climate change no-regret actions in the water sector (3-5 October 2012, Amman –Jordan)
SWIM-SM has conducted a 3-day regional training to develop the capacity of national and local water practitioners from the Partner Countries (PCs) to undertake immediate precautionary measures towards the adaptation of the water sector to potential negative impacts of climate change.
The training was organized by the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-Med), member of the SWIM-SM consortium, in cooperation with the Horizon 2020 Capacity Building component and addressed the following specific learning objective:
1) Raise the awareness of the participants on the potential impacts of climate changes on water resources in the region, its socio-economic and environmental consequences,
2) Increase their understanding on the degree of vulnerability particularly to increasing drought and flood events,
3) Make the case for adopting the no-regret actions approach as the appropriate and immediate means for the water sector to adapt to climate change,
4) Introduce appropriate approaches for planning, strategizing and developing no-regret actions measures, plans and policies, with a special focus on drought and flood management-
5) Review capacity, political commitments and measures needed for the creation of an enabling environment for the implementation of no-regret actions including institutional, legislative and financial needs
6) Identify and discuss appropriate approach and practices for mainstreaming no-regret actions into IWRM policy frameworks
7) Identify the optimal communication and public participation strategies to enhance the role of communities in designing and implementing no-regret water management measures.
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Cost-benefit analysis is a framework to assess the merits of an activity (project, policy) from the
perspective of society (as opposed to a single individual). It involves:
• measuring the gains and losses (benefits and costs) from an activity to the community
using money as the measuring rod; and
• aggregating those values of gains and losses and expressing them as net community
gains or losses (see Pearce 1983).
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It is becoming evident that if high-consumption societies are to tackle climate
change, signifi cant changes in production processes as well as in consumption
patterns will be required. Such transformations cannot be achieved unless
climate change is taken into account in the general and sector-specifi c policies
which underlie economic activity and general social development. When industry,
energy producers or transport companies take action as a result of climate
policies, they are also infl uenced signifi cantly by other policies. The degree to
which climate change issues are considered and integrated into existing policy
areas is therefore a key issue, along with climate-specifi c measures such as
emissions trading. This report assesses the extent of climate policy integration
in different European countries, policy sectors and in some cases regions and
municipalities. The assessment is based on fi ve criteria: inclusion, consistency,
weighting, reporting and resources. The report also analyses measures and
means for enhancing climate policy integration and improving policy coherence.
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Developing countries, as a group, are the ones most
threatened by the hydrological impacts of global climate
change (GCC). This is true both because many of the
poorest countries lie in those regions where GCC-related
effects will be most damaging, and because their ability to
respond to harmful change is the most limited. The objective
of this study is to provide an overview of likely waterrelated
climate change impacts in developing countries, to
develop a framework for adapting to these impacts and to
outline a strategy for international cooperation for corresponding
adaptive efforts.
The study intends to provide a broad overview of the topic,
describe its key dimensions, suggest promising interventions for further exploration, and serve as a basis for
discussion. Its focus is on the impact that climate change
will have on developing countries through its effects on
surface and ground water hydrology. While agriculture
is pivotal here, as it accounts for the lion’s share of water
consumption in most of these countries, the scope of this
review also includes other water-related dimensions, such
as flooding, drinking water, and ecosystems.
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Warming of the climate system is unequivocal,
as is now evident from observations of
increases in global average air and ocean temperatures,
widespread melting of snow and ice,
and rising global average sea level.”
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There is no doubt that our climate is changing. This will
pose huge challenges to nations, organisations, enterprises,
cities, communities and individuals. Developing
countries will suffer most from the adverse consequences
of climate change, and some highly vulnerable regions
and people are already being affected.
There is increasing agreement that if temperatures rise
by no more than 2 °C the earth’s integrity can be preserved
and many of the potentially grave consequences
of climate change could be avoided. This threshold is
associated with per capita emissions of approximately
two tonnes of CO2 equivalents1 each year. In terms of
reducing greenhouse gases (GHG), the immense challenge
this poses is shown in Figure 1. Industrialised
countries, and soon also developing countries, need to
sharply reduce their emissions.
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Global climate change and the significant impacts it can have
on people’s lives are a major challenge for developing countries.
Heavy floods, severe droughts and other weather extremes are
examples of those impacts which call for building up capacity
to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
While climate change will affect all regions of the world, people
in developing countries are the most vulnerable. That is
why adaptation is a priority for German development cooperation,
with many programmes already addressing the challenge
in partner countries. Now that the need for adaptation
to climate change has been generally accepted as an immediate
priority, it is time to bundle the knowledge and focus on how
to adapt.
This publication addresses precisely this point. The chapters
explore different dimensions of adaptive capacity that
are needed to prevent or reduce negative impacts of climate
change. These include, for example, access to climate information,
capacity to mainstream and devise strategies on adaptation,
and the ability to identify appropriate adaptation techniques
in sectors where this is particularly urgent.
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