PACC Project Case Study: Vanuatu Vital Roads, Epi Island Coastal Infrastructure

Submitted by Peniamina Leavai 28th June 2013 16:41

Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project is working in 14 Pacific Island countries to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience to the adverse effects of climate change. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is acting as the Executing Agency and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the Implementing Agency for the project. Funding from GEF's Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF), AusAID, and additional co-financing at the national level, is allowing PACC projects throughout the Pacific to integrate long-term climate change risks into coastal management, food production and water resource management.

Vanuatu, as one of the participating PACC countries, is improving the roading infrastructure on Epi Island to reduce climate-related risks, such as increase in extreme rainfall events and sea-level rise. Epi's inhabitants depend on local transport infrastructure to transport their crops to market, their sick to hospital, and to connect to the outside world. By relocating coastal roads, rehabilitating sea walls, and protecting the coastline through re-vegetation of native species, these long-term adaptation measures are preserving livelihoods and improving climate resilience.

The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change Project in Vanuatu is a combined effort of: AusAID; Global Environment Facility - SCCF; Government of Vanuatu; Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP); and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with support from UNITAR C3D+ Programme.