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The inextricable links between climate change and sustainable development have been increasingly recognised over the past decade. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 concluded with very high confidence that climate change would impede the ability of many nations to achieve sustainable development by mid-century and become a security risk that would steadily intensify, particularly under greater warming scenarios. Article 4.8 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) lists several groups of countries that merit particular consideration for assistance to adapt to climate change “especially: (a) small island countries, (b) countries with low-lying coastal areas, c) countries with areas prone to natural disasters.” Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have characteristics which make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, sea level rise (SLR) and extreme events, including: relative isolation, small land masses, concentrations of population and infrastructure in coastal areas, limited economic base and dependency on natural resources, combined with limited financial, technical and institutional capacity for adaptation.2

Relevance and quality of design The issues of inadequate resourcing and staffing of libraries and information centres have been identified as a weakness of the development framework that needed be addressed by governments and donors. Weaknesses include the identification and collection of documents, bibliographical registration, staffing and training of libraries and government financial support. The proposal by SPREP to develop a capacity across the member states in the region for an information system on environmental issues was very relevant, given the difficulties of environment institutions and the public in general to access comprehensive and adapted sources of information. The first phase of PEIN {2000-2003} allowed establishing the central library at SPREP headquarters in Apia, but funding was too limited to allow significant capacity building in the countries. The new proposal was intended to develop information databases and hubs across the 14 PACP countries. The final evaluation of PEIN 1 indicated that national libraries were used mostly by school students and barely by professionals; it had also put in doubt the sustainability of the project once external funding would end. An important hypothesis was that libraries and hubs in national environment institutions would obtain strategic government support for operational costs so that material and training provided by the project could be made good use of. This hypothesis was not verified in most countries. libraries retrained at the bottom of priorities in cash strapped Environment Departments, and manned with undertraincd or transient staff. The new project manager put in charge in 2007 was able to adjust the strategy and scale up the use of internet and digital databases, focusing the project on developing a web-based platform easier to manage and accessible to all users in the countries and beyond. The addendum 1 granted no cost extension and the endorsed PEIN 2008 Annual Work Programme and logframe changed the focus towards establishing National Environment Information Centers (NEIC) instead of traditional libraries.

The nations of CARICOM16 in the Caribbean together with Pacific island countries contribute less than 1% to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (approx. 0.33%17 and 0.03%18 respectively), yet these countries are expected to be among the earliest and most impacted by climate change in the coming decades and are least able to adapt to climate change impacts. These nations’ relative isolation, small land masses, their concentrations of population and infrastructure in coastal areas, limited economic base and dependency on natural resources, combined with limited financial, technical and institutional capacity all exacerbates their vulnerability to extreme events and climate change impacts. Stabilising global GHG emissions and obtaining greater support for adaptation strategies are fundamental priorities for the Caribbean Basin and Pacific island countries. CARICOM leaders recently unveiled their collective position that global warming should be held to no more than 1.5°C19 and continue to develop a Climate Change Strategic Plan. The Pacific island countries have expressed their priorities for addressing climate change regionally through the Pacific Leaders’ Call to Action on Climate Change20 and the Pacific Islands Framework for Action on Climate Change 2006-2015.21