PACRES Holds its Steering Committee Meeting in Nadi, 2022

The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience Building (PACRES) project will hold its Project Steering Committee Meeting in Nadi, Fiji, from 30 August 2022 until 01 September 2022.

The three day meeting at the Novotel Hotel will also be used to trial the Project’s online Ecosystem-based Adaptation tool.

The aim of the EbA decision support tool is to create a more modest tool using ‘lite’ technology tailored to the needs of planners at the national, subnational and community levels in the Pacific Islands region. It will not require the input of data but will rather provide links to information for planners to initiate scoping and selection of potential EbA options, depending on different local circumstances and requirements across the region.

Funded by European Union Intra-ACP GCCA+ the Project Steering Committee Meeting will review PACRES progress from 2021 to 2022 and discuss adjustments to scheduled activities for next year.

The meeting will also give PACRES country representatives and partners an opportunity to provide input on progress and proposed adjustments.

PACRES aims to improve regional, national adaptation and mitigation solutions to climate change concerns faced in 15 Pacific ACP countries. The 15 Pacific ACP countries are: Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

"The European Union has a long-standing partnership with the Pacific countries to address climate change and has been scaling up funds available for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the Pacific region and across the Globe." said the EU programme manager for PACRES, Mr. Gabor SASVARI.

The €12.18 million PACRES is funded primarily by the European Union (EU) (€12 million) with targeted support from Monaco and the Swiss Confederation and is delivered jointly by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programmme (SPREP), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Pacific Community (SPC) and the University of the South Pacific (USP). 

SPREP’s Director General, Mr Sefanaia Nawadra said the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone  but the opportunity to have the third PACRES Steering Committee meeting face to face is an opportunity to look towards what we have been able to achieve during this challenging time.

“We are excited by the great progress to build climate change resilience capacity in the region,” Mr Nawadra said.

“SPREP continues to push forward the work to scale up-adaptation pilots in Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu with on-the-ground grassroots activities with our island communities.

 “Our member countries’ contributions to regional coordination in climate change and disaster resilience through the multi-stakeholder Pacific Resilience Partnership for the effective implementation of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific (FRDP) is another achievement.”

The Steering Committee Meeting is taking place after the successful Audit report for Years 1 and 2 was acknowledged by the European Union as a remarkable achievement against the COVID-19 odds.

For more information on the PACRES project, please contact Semi Qamese, PACRES Project Manager at semiq@sprep.org