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For Pacific SIDS, the need for adaptation to climate change has become increasingly urgent. Long-term climate change, including the increasing frequency and severity of extreme events such as high rainfall, droughts, tropical cyclones, and storm surges are affecting the lives and livelihoods of people in PICs. Coupled with non-climate drivers, such as overexploitation of resources, increasing urbanization and population increase, development in the region is increasingly undermined. For the low lying atolls, the likely economic disruption from climate change pressures could be catastrophic, even to the extent of requiring population relocation to other islands or adding numbers to the Pacific diaspora, with the subsequent social and cultural disruption having unknown proportions. Failure to reduce vulnerability could also result in loss of opportunities to manage risks in the future when the impacts may be greater and time to consider options limited.

Mangrove ecosystems are threatened by climate change. We review the state of knowledge of mangrove vulnerability and responses to predicted climate change and consider adaptation options. Based on available evidence, of all the climate change outcomes, relative sea-level rise may be the greatest threat to mangroves. Most mangrove sediment surface elevations are not keeping pace with sea-level rise, although longer term studies from a larger number of regions are needed. Rising sea-level will have the greatest impact on mangroves experiencing net lowering in sediment elevation, where there is limited area for landward migration. The Pacific Islands mangroves have been demonstrated to be at high risk of substantial reductions. There is less certainty over other climate change outcomes and mangrove responses. More research is needed on assessment methods and standard indicators of change in response to effects from climate change, while regional monitoring networks are needed to observe these responses to enable educated adaptation. Adaptation measures can offset anticipated mangrove losses and improve resistance and resilience to climate change. Coastal planning can adapt to facilitate mangrove migration with sea-level rise. Management of activities within the catchment that affect long-term trends in the mangrove sediment elevation, better management of other stressors on mangroves, rehabilitation of degraded mangrove areas, and increases in systems of strategically designed protected area networks that include mangroves and functionally linked ecosystems through representation, replication and refugia, are additional adaptation options.

19th SPREP Meeting of Officials, 08-11 September 2008, Pohnpei, FSM : Additional Working papers|Review of support staff salary movements : agenda item 6.4|SPREP support staff remuneration review 2008: terms of reference|SPREP market survey of support staff salaries and terms & conditions in Samoa, July 2008|Annual Reference market data review (Professional staff) : agenda item 6.5|Council of Regional Organisations: annual comparison of reference markets 2008 update|Genetic resources in Pacific region: update on discussion paper from SPREP 2007: agenda item 8.4. paper presented by Australia|Regional Institutional Framework (RIF) Review: agenda item 10.3|Forum Communique: Regional Institutional framework review|Regional Institutional Framework: stage 2 task force, Nukualofa Tonga 2007|Regional Institutional framework- stage 2 RIF task force (June) meeting, PIFS, Suva Fiji 14 June 2007: Chairperson's report - meeting outcomes|The pathway towards quality of service from Pacific Regionalism, September 2007 RIF 2 project team : annex 1|38th Pacific Islands forum, Fiji 24-25 October 2006: Forum communique: Regional Institutional framework review|Reforming the Pacific Regional Institutional Framework, August 2006|39th Pacific Islands Forum, Alofi, Niue 19-20 August 2008: Forum