The Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) showcased the outstanding outcomes of its training programmes of adaptation, mitigation, and access to climate finance to increase climate investment in the Pacific during a COP26 side event “Strengthened Resilience to Climate Change in the Pacific: from Capacity Building to Climate Investment”.
The event was jointly hosted by the Overseas Environmental Cooperation Center (OECC), Japan and the PCCC on 3 November 2021 at the Japan Pavilion.
“The PCCC is critical to the ongoing collective efforts of our Blue Pacific region to fight against the impacts of climate change. The Centre also ensures Pacific-tailored solutions to address our own adaptation needs and mitigation priorities and is critical to our science-policy interface for more informed decision making to build a resilient Blue Pacific” said His Excellency Fatumanava Dr. Pa’olelei Luteru, Permanent Representative of Samoa to the United Nations in his opening remarks. He added that “the Project on Capacity Building on Climate Resilience in the Pacific that is currently implemented by the Centre is an example of a successful and vital partnership between the Government of Samoa, the Government of Japan through JICA, and SPREP”.
The Project has delivered 7 courses since November 2019, which has seen over 300 participants from the Pacific participate in it and over 75% of participants evaluated the courses as ‘Excellent’”.
This was reiterated during the welcoming remarks by Mr Kosi Latu, Director General of SPREP, as he highlighted the importance and continued relevance of the PCCC.
Mr Chris Teva, SPREP-PACRES Project Officer, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology of Solomon Islands, was one of the participants to the PCCC training on Ecosystems between June-July 2021. He said “the exercise on the problem and objective trees and logical framework really helped me to see the different constructive ideas from different Pacific Island Countries”. He also shared that lessons learnt from the PCCC training have been utilized in project development in Solomon Islands.
Another outstanding outcome following the PCCC training on “Understanding Access to Climate Finance” in November and December 2020 was that participants in Vanuatu received mentoring assistance from the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). Dr Peter King, IGES, recommended that formal taskforce needs to be formed after the training to enable the trainee to pass on what they’ve learned to the taskforce.
Mr Jiro Ogahara, Senior Researcher at OECC, Japan, shared his insights from their experience of a pre-feasibility study in Nauru, funded through the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), to explore renewable ocean energy options with a focus on Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant.
“We can consider CTCN as a leverage that can facilitate the preparation and access to larger funds for the implementation stage. It can be used for gathering knowledge, delivering trainings and promoting networking”, he said adding that “if (the project in Nauru is) successful, the introduction of OTEC technology can be replicated across the region.”
The panelists further discussed partnerships and funding in order to explore innovative tools, methodologies, and approaches relevant for the Pacific to enhance climate resilience through successful cleaner, greener and bluer revolution and recovery from disasters and COVID-19 and to adapt to protect communities and natural habitats in line with the goal of the COP26.
Ms 'Ofa Ma’asi-Kaisamy, Manager, PCCC closed the side event with reaffirming that “We (the PCCC and SPREP) will continue to work with existing partners and also seek to expand new partnerships to address various capacity needs of our members”
The PCCC is the regional centre of excellence for climate change information, research and innovation, hosted at SPREP. As a centre of excellence, the PCCC is mandated to provide practical information, support, and training to address the adaptation and mitigation priorities of Pacific Island communities.
The PCCC is underpinned by strong partnerships with Pacific Governments, applied research institutions, donors, civil society, and the private sector. The PCCC is a partnership between the Governments of Japan and Samoa. It is funded under grant aid through JICA for Samoa as the host country of SPREP.
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