Vanuatu is one of five Pacific ACP countries where the €12 million EU funded Intra-ACP GCCA+ Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change and Resilience Building (PACRES), proposes to scale up adaptation/ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) pilots. The Vanuatu component of the project will be jointly implemented by SPREP, SPC and USP.
The SPREP component of the project is entitled ‘Restoration of the Tagabe River watershed and key urban and peri urban areas of Port Vila. The project implements activities in the areas of Tagabe Riverbank rehabilitation and restoration, nursery expansion, tree planting, development of master plans, training, strengthening coordination and awareness raising. The SPREP’s team is working closely Mr. Mike Waiwai (Director Climate Change) and Department of Forest on activities implemented on-ground.
The PIFS’s PACRES component is more of a regional approach that targets Pacific Resilience Partnership of the FRDP and the private sector engagement, which Vanuatu is part of.
The SPC component of the project is administered and managed through a grant facility to complement the implementation of other pilot adaptation activities led by SPREP.
The USP component includes capacity development and activities that are designed to strengthen existing climate change, disaster resilience and sustainable development networks. Participatory Needs Analysis are conducted to gauge training needs at sub-national and community levels in the PACRES geographical locations and within the identified sectors. Training is delivered at sub-national and community levels as per identified need. The USP RCO is working on building a community of practice, supporting the development of an innovative tool for sub-national/community development planning, followed by workshops to train communities and adaptation practitioners. In addition, depending on permission from governments, USP is aiming to integrate climate change, disaster risk management and rights-based approaches in sub-national development plans. In addition, change agents/champions will be trained on rights-based approaches. Wherever possible, USP and SPREP will coordinate to complement training activities delivered at sub-national and community levels.