SPREP

“It is important to carry out regular water assessments to make sure water systems are up-to-date and people have access to safe and clean water,” said Annie Samuels, Project Manager for Vanuatu company, Hexagon Water Specialists.

Hexagon Water Specialists has conducted water assessments in western Malekula at Wintua, Limbenwen, Lorlow and Tenmaru; and in northwest Pentecost at Laone village as part of the By-catch and Integrated Ecosystem Management (BIEM) Initiative.

A strong foundation to this is the information and data from a wide range of sectors and stakeholders.

A National Stakeholders Inform Project workshop was held in Vanuatu recently to help build this foundation.

About 40 participants attended the event held by Vanuatu Department of Environmental Protection and Conservation, and the regional Inform project of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

As a result, Pacific islands in the central Pacific region such as Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu may experience below normal rainfall which could lead to drought.

Islands in the South-West Pacific will experience higher than normal rainfall, such Fiji, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Southern Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu which might see flooding, landslides or possibly cyclones.

La Niña is expected to last right through to the first quarter of 2021.

This comes a week before Vanuatu has its Climate Change week from 12 – 16 October, 2020.

In recognition of the important role played by Pacific media and government communications officers, to share information and help build awareness and knowledge, a partnership has come together to help empower more news on climate change across Vanuatu.

The training is implemented by the Government of Vanuatu and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme through the Regional Pacific NDC Hub, in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC).

Meteorological officials from around the Pacific are meeting in Honiara this week ahead of a meeting by ministers in charge of met offices.

Kosi Latu said one issue that has been discussed is the need to extend or improve forecasting services to some of the smaller countries such as Tokelau and Niue.

He said these islands will need resources to build capacity which is now more likely given international interest in improving forecasting.

The marine waste monitoring is an awareness to the students about the importance of managing coastal ecosystems to ensure their continued resilience in the face of climate change, and continued provision of services to the people.

CEFAS under the CME programme is focused on water quality monitoring, seagrass mapping and marine waste monitoring in 2017.

The training was in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and USP.

The historic event is targeted towards rallying global action to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) through its Pacific sub-regional office are partnering together to implement several different initiatives to support Pacific island countries as they prepare for the UN Oceans Conference.

Co-hosted by the Governments of Fiji and Sweden, the UN Oceans Conference will be held in New York from 5 to 7 June this year.

Both Secretariats are committed to continue working together in partnership for the conservation of Pacific island wetlands and their ecosystems, which also have an important role in climate change and disaster risk reduction.

Coastal wetlands such as mangroves and coral reefs help to buffer the impacts of climate-related events such as storm surges and cyclones.

Inland wetlands also mitigate the impacts of natural disasters, both floods and droughts.

She will succeed Mr Braulio Ferreira de Souza whose term comes to an end in February next year.

Fourteen Pacific islands are part of the 195+ countries that are parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity,a multilateral environment agreement which aims to conserve biodiversity, ensure sustainable use of the components of biodiversity as well as the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.

"It is a great pleasure to welcome you to Samoa, and especially to our SPREP campus," said Director General Kosi Latu. "The Australian Government is one of the key donors to SPREP and we are keen to strengthen our bonds through the work we do here at SPREP," he added.

Minister Fierravanti-Wells was pleased to announce two climate change adaptation investments while at SPREP.