Cross Cutting Issues

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).

Replication Potential

In the context of collaboration with national and regional technical agencies the project will refine and adapt remote sensing data technology for SaM mapping and carbon storage assessment methods for wide-ranging application in PICs during and beyond the project period. Project-based demonstration of effective mapping, monitoring and management regimes aims to foster and support national and regional capacity and up-scaling of these approaches in partner countries and neighbouring PICs. Collaboration and sharing of techniques and experiences with the IKI project “Blue Solutions – Implementing the CBD Strategic Plan in the field of marine and coastal biodiversity” and with the currently planned regional project on “Conservation of biodiversity, seagrass ecosystems and their services – safeguarding food security and resilience in vulnerable coastal communities in a changing climate ” will maximise replicability within the wider region and in collaboration with further global stakeholders

The project will improve climate change resilience, food security and livelihood opportunities through community led NBS in coastal communities in Vanuatu. The expected impact is improved and resilient biodiversity, coastal lands, nearshore aquatic resources and livelihoods for the local population.

Primarily, the project will benefit the governments of Vanuatu, and will directly improve the lives of 22,500 beneficiaries/5,000 households equally distributed across Vanuatu. Women and youth will be prioritized, but because the project aims to improve biodiversity, coastal lands, nearshores and aquatic resources, it will benefit the entire populations of Vanuatu.

The project starts with a participatory approach with stakeholder engagement activities for the identification of NBS and the identification and development of women and youth lead entrepreneurship. Through these approaches, participatory conservation and restoration efforts will be truly led by women and youth groups, in partnership with local authorities, through entrepreneurial activities linked to sustainable tourism and learning, as well as community-fisheries that will ensure the empowerment of women, girls and boys and ensure the long-term sustainability of the project. When planning support to strengthen community resilience, the point of departure is to recognize the ever evolving and dynamic nature of communities and the underlying vulnerabilities that challenge them. Being resilient includes being flexible in the face of changing risks, which are especially accentuated in the Pacific given their exposure to climate variability, and increasingly influencing risk patterns along the steps of a change management process for sustainable development. To enable communities to strengthen resilience through NBS, the below elements will be included in the first phase of the project: (i) a broad understanding of the climate induced risks from inaction and its consequences; (ii) a holistic approach to community resilience, as these are multidimensional systems within wider systems, meaning that coordination should be across sectors and should be operationalized across levels; (iii) responding to communities’ own understanding of the risks of inaction and the benefits of sustainable NBS which promote income generation; (iv) people centred, or listening and understanding people’s perspectives; (v) being inclusive, without discrimination.

The main objective of this project is to “improve climate change resilience, food security and livelihood opportunities through community led NBS in coastal communities in Vanuatu.”

There are 3 components:

1. Develop and implement gender sensitive national policies to support nature-based solutions and ecosystem valuation
2. Restore and protect coastal biodiversity, lands, nearshore and aquatic resources through community-led NBS and entrepreneurship, in locations with high dependence on biodiversity and ecosystem services (for resilience and livelihoods).
3. Facilitate knowledge sharing, awareness and collaborative engagement for ecosystem management between communities, islands, countries and territories.

Phase I (January to December 2024): This phase will be marked by a strong focus on achieving Outcome 1 and the activities.

Outcome I: NBS for women and youth Identified

The following activities will be technically designed and led by FAO in close collaboration with UNOPS, local and

national authorities and other relevant partners.

• Activity 1.1: Develop community profiles of the loss of biodiversity, coastal lands nearshore and aquatic resources through participatory consultations and mapping in 11 communities in Vanuatu.
• Activity 1.2: Identify the scope of biodiversity, coastal lands, nearshore and aquatic resources restoration and protection by consulting 11 communities in Vanuatu.
• Activity 1.3: Identify and prioritise traditional practices related to NBS by consulting 11 communities in Vanuatu.
• Activity 1.4: Identify at least 5,000 households from Vanuatu on the basis of their ongoing relevant activities and endorsement by local and national authorities to implement NBS entrepreneurship activities.

Phase II (January to December 2025): This phase will be marked by a strong focus on achieving result 2 and the associated activities.

Outcome II: Women and youth led NBS entrepreneurship established for about 5,000 households.           

• Activity 2.1: Select at least one demonstration site for using NBS and entrepreneurship to restore and protect biodiversity, coastal lands, nearshore and aquatic resources in consultation with local and national authorities in each of the targeted communities in Vanuatu.
• Activity 2.2: Train about 5,000 households in NBS approaches to the restoration and protection of biodiversity, coastal lands, nearshore and aquatic resources in Vanuatu. Organise two separate workshops on restoration and protection.
• Activity 2.3: Propagate, replant and regenerate about 200,000 coastal trees and shrubs in Vanuatu, including through direct seeding. This will include distribution of kits to about 5,000 households, each kit containing at least 15 tree seedlings/propagules (mainly food and culturally important trees), information and tools.
• Activity 2.4: Train about 5,000 households in NBS entrepreneurship. This will cover small business skills, agritourism, value addition, post-harvest handling of crops and fish, marketing and digitalization.

Phase III (January to December xxxxx): This phase will be marked by a strong focus on achieving Outcome 3 and 4, and the associated activities.

Outcome III: A gender sensitive policy to adequately manage coastal ecosystems is developed and implemented 

• Activity 3.1: Enhancing and strengthening of the gender sensitive National Policies for ecosystem management with practical and precise action plans, informed by the project experience of scalable solutions in Vanuatu.
• Activity 3.2: Implement the gender sensitive National Policies developed with practical and precise action plans, informed by the project experience of scalable solutions in Vanuatu

Outcome IV: Public communication campaign promoting NBS developed and implemented via knowledge sharing. 

• Activity 4.1: Drawing on the FAO SIDS Solutions Platform, which facilitates knowledge sharing, identify and develop electronic and video profiles of at least 6 scalable solutions from Vanuatu (5) for learning and learning between Project sites targeted by this project.
• Activity 4.1: Organize and facilitate at least three virtual knowledge sharing and learning workshops that draw on, and promote scalable solutions from the project experience between the targeted Project sites

The aim of the project is to apply Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) to empower targeted communities in Community Conservation Areas (CCA’s) to develop rights-based regenerative climate-smart ridge to reef landscape and food system design and management plans that support food and nutrition security and overall well-being.

The project considers the current Vanuatu’s Off-Grid RE and EE Promotion Program as the main baseline effort towards achieving the country’s NERM targets. This program includes the installation of RE-based (mainly hydro, and solar) power generation and distribution systems, as well as some Energy Efficiency interventions. This project aims to fill in critical gaps in Vanuatu’s baseline program.

1. Policy and planning: The project will identify important policy and planning gaps and institutionalize existing policies and plans in place (NERM-IP Plan and NERM) in the baseline program that it will fill, such as guidelines, standards, and incentive policies.
2.  Institutional: The project will focus and represent relatively innovative incremental aspects. System management will be a critical feature in the sustainability of rural RE systems and their replication and thus an instrumental contribution towards meeting NERM targets.
3.  Capacity development:  While Vanuatu has substantial baseline program efforts to install RE systems in off-grid areas, training is very limited and generally consists of one-time training upon installation of systems. For larger-scale systems, capturing wind energy, equipment sourcing, and installation capacity is absent.

Green transport: The project will aim to set example of green transport mechanism by introducing electric vehicles

Financing for energy efficiency: The focus will be given to educating the commercial private sector to set up a loan or equity financing mechanism for Energy Efficiency Equipment and productive uses in rural areas.

The project considers the current Vanuatu’s Off-Grid RE and EE Promotion Program as the main baseline effort towards achieving the country’s NERM targets. This program includes the installation of RE-based (mainly hydro, and solar) power generation and distribution systems, as well as some Energy Efficiency interventions. This project aims to fill in critical gaps in Vanuatu’s baseline program.

1. Policy and planning: The project will identify important policy and planning gaps and institutionalize existing policies and plans in place (NERM-IP Plan and NERM) in the baseline program that it will fill, such as guidelines, standards, and incentive policies.
2.  Institutional: The project will focus and represent relatively innovative incremental aspects. System management will be a critical feature in the sustainability of rural RE systems and their replication and thus an instrumental contribution towards meeting NERM targets.
3.  Capacity development:  While Vanuatu has substantial baseline program efforts to install RE systems in off-grid areas, training is very limited and generally consists of one-time training upon installation of systems. For larger-scale systems, capturing wind energy, equipment sourcing, and installation capacity is absent.

Green transport: The project will aim to set example of green transport mechanism by introducing electric vehicles

Financing for energy efficiency: The focus will be given to educating the commercial private sector to set up a loan or equity financing mechanism for Energy Efficiency Equipment and productive uses in rural areas.

Location: 

The project is focused on outer Islands of the country and emphasis will be given to the areas not covered by BRANTV/GEF project and Green Energy Transformation Project (JSB). Specific site will be selected during development of full proposal.

Pico-hydro PV hybrid demo: 1

Large PV mini grids (about 100 kW each): 5

Institutional PV systems (1.9 – 5.2 kW each): 20

Household-scale PV demos (120 W to 1.6 Kw): 100

Family compound-scale PV deployed across full villages: 20

Wind energy system (wind turbine): 1

In July 2021, UNOSAT and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) signed a new cooperation framework to sustain and expand their longstanding efforts to strengthen capacities in the use of geospatial information technologies for improved resilience in the Asia-Pacific and Africa.
This 3 year-long project builds on previous experiences and aims to further enhance capacities by leveraging technological advances and innovation and providing integrated geospatial solutions for improved decision making in the fields of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Resilience, Environmental Preservation & Food Security in the eight target countries: Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Lao PDR, Nigeria, and Uganda.
An innovative user-centred capacity development approach will be applied for the implementation of this project, and it is comprised of:
• Technical Training: Through the implementation of this project in each target country, UNOSAT will offer a total of three technical trainings custom-tailored to the country’s needs, with focus on climate finance, geospatial information technology, and disaster risk management. The courses will be delivered to both executive managers and technical staff, through three main approaches: face-to-face, blended learning, and e-learning solutions.
• Knowledge Platform & Community of Practice: The project team will also implement a central Knowledge Platform for the project, this will serve as an integrated learning environment for all distance-learning solutions and the main meeting point of UNOSAT’s community of practice, all aiming at sustaining the project outcomes and increasing its impact. The knowledge platform will also facilitate cross country knowledge and expertise sharing for tackling common challenges.
• Access to Climate Finance: There is a strong need for Pacific SIDS to finance their climate changes adaptations strategy; however, there is limited capacities in preparation of project proposals to climate funding. This project will integrate the Climate Finance Access Hub of the Commonwealth Secretariat (CCFAH) to use the established channels for increasing success in accessing climate funds. With the deployment of a climate finance advisor, the objective will be to facilitate improved access by partner countries to climate finance mechanisms to meet their priority needs in realizing sustainable development goals. As of April 2020, the Hub has helped countries to access USD 33,605,291 of climate finance, with USD 572,639,261 in the pipeline.
• Technical Backstopping and In-country Expert: Technical backstopping will be the backbone of the capacity development applicability and sustainability. From comprehensive risk analysis to modern web mapping systems and Operations Dashboards, various products will be developed to support informed decision making in partner countries. A minimum of eight backstopping services will be provided to each of the beneficiary countries, which can be considered as mini geospatial projects for improving or optimising existing operations. The in-country national expert will work on-site and hand-in-hand with the beneficiary ministry with technical support from the project team.
• Decision Support Applications: UNOSAT will develop in each country one smart web-based applications that can ingest data from available baseline datasets, satellite images, scientific models and generate meaningful insight to steer decision making. Complex data analytics will be carried out with automation scripts on UNOSAT cloud computing infrastructure, so analysts do not need to perform repeated analysis, saving valuable resources and time. The results will be accessible to a range of national stakeholders through dedicated decision support platforms.

The Women’s Resilience to Disasters (WRD) programme is fully funded by the Government of Australia and proposes a comprehensive package to strengthen the resilience of women and girls with the goal of ensuring that the lives and livelihoods of women and girls are resilient to disasters and threats, contributing to sustainable, secure, and thriving communities.

The WRD programme will initially be implemented in Kiribati, Vanuatu, and Fiji. Programme implementation will be driven at country level and supported by regional and global components.

The country components will provide targeted action to strengthen women’s resilience and build gender-responsive systems, advancing different elements of the WRD depending on the national context, policy priorities, existing initiatives, needs, and capacities.

At the regional level, the focus will be on knowledge management, advocacy, and gender and disability support for regional mechanisms, movements, and coalitions, including the Pacific Resilience Partnership.

The global component will advance gender-responsiveness in global DRR and climate processes, provide technical support, ensure global knowledge sharing and advocacy on women’s leadership for disaster resilience, and provide a platform for sharing good practice for gender-responsive resilience and voices from the Pacific.

The expected Outcomes for WRD are two-fold:
1) Prevention, preparedness, and recovery policy frameworks, systems, processes, and tools are gender-responsive, and implemented as a result of local women’s and girls’ advocacy; and
2) Women and girls have voice and agency to withstand multiple hazards, recover from disasters, and increase their resilience to future disasters and threats.

At the country level, the WRD Programme will work with government ministries, UN agencies and regional partners, and CSOs including women’s organisations.

The programme’s principles are localization and ownership. In line with these principles, women’s organizations and DRR and resilience stakeholders will be key partners in programme implementation and monitoring and evaluation. The programme will contribute to key international processes and frameworks, including Agenda 2030, the Sendai Framework, the WHS outcomes, and the Humanitarian- Development-Peace Nexus.

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.

Oxfam International is a world-wide development organisation that mobilises the power of people against poverty. In the Pacific, we work with our partners to ensure that Pacific Islander women and men (specifically those that are poor, marginalised or excluded) are leading and shaping their development and where their voices are heard and acted on by those in power. In the Pacific, Oxfam’s regional office is based in Suva, Fiji, where our Fiji country office and our base for remote cluster management of the Polynesia/Micronesia country office are also located. We also have offices in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

The Pacific Islands Climate Change Collaboration, Influencing and Learning (PACCCIL) project is a four year (2018 – 2021) project funded for the first two years by Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). It aims at strengthening the influencing capacity of civil society actors and networks to ensure that action on climate change in the Pacific region is more effective, inclusive and collaborative. The project will work with key climate change action networks in Vanuatu and at the regional level, as well as facilitate the organising and collective action of civil society actors in Solomon Islands and the Polynesia and Micronesia sub-regions against climate change.

The Vanuatu Ministry of Climate Change and Natural Disaster and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a US$2.6 million project document paving the way for a sustainable energy project funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Barrier Removal for Achieving the National Energy Road Map Targets of Vanuatu (BRANTV) Project is funded by the GEF and implemented by UNDP in partnership with the Vanuatu Department of Energy. BRANTV has the objective of enabling the achievement of energy access, sustainable energy, and green growth targets of Vanuatu (as per the NERM).