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Pacific Climate Change Science

This platform is an archival/legacy website providing 15 Pacific island countries with tools and knowledge to enhance their capacity to deal with a changing climate.
Multiple Authors
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Platform summary

Through the Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP), Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) program and Pacific Climate Change Science and Services Outreach Project, the Australian Government provided tools and knowledge to 15 Pacific island countries to enhance their capacity to deal with a changing climate.

The PCCSP delivered targeted information on past, current and possible future climate for partner countries. The PACCSAP program built on the success of the PCCSP and aimed to improve the understanding of the current and future climate for partner countries through science, communication and capacity building activities.

The PACCSAP program was completed in 2014 and the platform is now operational as an archival/legacy website effectively providing access to the PCCSP/PACCSAP collection of outputs.

Host Organisation: Originally developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as part of the Australian Government funded PCCSP/PACCSAP program, and now hosted/administered by Secretariat of the Pacific Environment Program (SPREP) in Samoa.

Launch date: Pacific climate change science was launched in 2012.

Funding: There is no dedicated funding to support the further development of the website rather it is maintained by SPREP to ensure ongoing functionality for accessing the archive collection of products.

Team: Maintenance of the site is the responsibility of the SPREP-based Pacific MetDesk Partnership, and the SPREP IT team. In practice this would be a very small fraction of a single person, noting that no further development of the site is taking place now.

Main functions:

  • Providing quantitative data for adaptation decision-making
  • Providing decision-support tools for adaptation decision-making
  • The focus of the website is delivery of knowledge designed to enhance the scientific understanding of physical climate change in the western tropical Pacific. There is no overt focus on adaptation per se, rather the relevance to adaptation is via the knowledge provided to better understand the physical science of climate change processes, current and future climatology and associated physical impacts of climate change.

Intended audiences:

  • National Meteorological & Hydrological Services
  • National-level decision makers / national government
  • City and regional-level decision-makers / local government
  • Communities / general public
  • Teachers / educators
  • Private sector / businesses
  • Research community
  • Civil society (NGO / charities)

Focus sectors for the platform:

  • Health
  • Agriculture
  • Oceans / Fisheries
  • Forests and other ecosystems
  • Transport
  • Infrastructure / built environment
  • Trade
  • Finance / insurance
  • Disaster risk
  • Water
  • Energy
  • Tourism

Why the platform was established

Pacific climate change science was established as a means of communication and as a repository for data/information and associated products/outputs of the Australian Government funded Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) and the subsequent Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Program.

Examples of knowledge brokering for awareness raising and capacity building in the Pacific

The Pacific Adventures of the Climate Crab

This animation and toolkit raises awareness of the science and impacts of El Niño and La Niña and encourages Pacific Islanders to take early action in preparing for these extreme events. The film stars a comical and highly resilient crab and follows her escapades across the Pacific.

The animation comes with a resource ‘tool kit’ to help facilitators link the information in the film with smart decision-making and action on the ground. The tool kit contains an Action Handbook and a PowerPoint presentation. All the resources can be found here.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIUSWEftN4w&feature=youtu.be]

Cloud Nasara

This animation and toolkit produced in three languages (Bislama, English and French) which raises awareness of the science and impacts of El Niño and La Niña in Vanuatu and encourages the people of Vanuatu to take early action in preparing for these extreme events.

The Cloud Nasara animation tells the story of a cloud meeting place, floating high above the Pacific, and its interactions with a small island village, inhabited by a colourful cast of characters, including a reggae-obsessed parrot and a string band.

The Tool Kit helps facilitators to link the information in the film with smart decision-making and action on the ground. It includes bingo cards, picture cards, a PowerPoint presentation and an Action Handbook. The Tool Kit encourages discussion around how communities, schools, organisations, government departments and businesses in Vanuatu can access forecast information from the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-hazard Department (VMGD), pro-actively communicate and work together with other stakeholders, and take early action to prepare for future El Niño and La Niña events. All the resources can be found here.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMthanwiOWE]

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