Climate Ready
Building Resilience to Climate Change
Challenge
Pacific Island countries have experienced severe impacts of climate change, such as rising sea level, increasing drought and storm frequency and intensity, ocean acidification, and consequent damage to coral reefs and fisheries. Preparing for and responding to climate change impacts places additional pressures on existing funding sources and government structures. Many governments within the Pacific region seek support to address these negative impacts.
Approach
The Climate Ready Project worked with target Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to achieve their climate change adaptation goals and become more climate resilient in ways that are country-driven, coordinated, inclusive, and equitable. Headquartered in Suva, Fiji, with regional offices in Pohnpei, Federates States of Micronesia (FSM) and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Climate Ready supported Pacific governments to develop climate change adaptation policies and legislation. The project also strengthened their resiliency through capacity building, training, and provision of technical assistance to improve access to climate finance and better protect the lives and livelihoods of their citizens.
Goals and Results
The ultimate outcome of Climate Ready was tangible progress toward implementation of an increased number of adaptation interventions that align with PICs’ National Adaptation Plans, so that these countries become more resilient to climate change and disaster risks. Climate Ready worked with target countries to ensure that policy frameworks and capacity were in place to effectively access and manage the additional funds by assisting them to:
- Draft, enact, and implement national, sub-national and sectoral policies, regulations, and legal frameworks required to achieve adaptation goals, as identified in national adaptation plans.
- Access adaptation finance by developing and submitting fundable adaptation proposals to accredited Regional or Multilateral Implementing Entities, and where appropriate, pursue National Implementing Entity status.
- Improve the skills and systems of relevant governmental entities and private sector project implementers to effectively manage, monitor, and report on the implementation of funded adaptation projects. Through a partnership with the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, the Project offered a variety of accredited courses in project management, resilience, climate change adaptation project preparation and cost benefit analysis, and asset management to participants who represented government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.
Selected achievements:
- Provided support for 19 climate change policies addressing climate resilience
- Supported 42 institutions that have improved PICs’ capacity to address climate change
- Mobilized $578.5 million for climate resilience
- Facilitated access to climate finance for 86 projects
- Trained 2,563 people (including 1,343 women) in global climate change adaptation
Business Continuity Planning Resources – Climate Ready