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The 7th Conference of the Pacific Community and 41st Meeting of the Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA) took place at SPC headquarters in Noumea from 1 to 8 November. The Conference of the Pacific Community — SPC's governing body - is held every two years and is immediately preceded by the meeting of CRGA, which makes recommendations to the Conference.

Reports from the PACC project

Technical report

This report deals with food security and climate change in 15 Pacific Island economies in terms of the four traditional food security pillars: f adequacy (enough food on a consistent basis, either through local production or imports or food assistance from outside sources); f availability (ability of households and individuals to acquire food); f stability (resilience of food supplies to external shocks, such as natural disasters); f utilisation of food at the household level, especially by those with low incomes (requiring that people are healthy enough to process the food internally, and have adequate safe water and sanitation and food hygiene and child-care skills. In the Pacific context, safety and nutrition (food that is fresh or properly preserved and contributes to a healthy diet) are equally important and are included as a fifth pillar. Adequate food security has existed only intermittently in the region in the past and food shortages and famine conditions continue to occur, largely as a result of natural weather-related events.

The effects of climate change require strong actions from policy-makers, extension officers and communities to strengthen resilience to the expected negative impacts. Sea-level rise, changes in precipitation patterns and other effects cannot be avoided, but there are many means to reduce the vulnerability of communities. To equip the actors in this adaptation process with the right tools, the Regional Programme on Adaptation to Climate Change in the Pacific Island Region is setting up a knowledge management system including a database on climate change. A collection of best practices from the region and other parts of the world will be part of this venture. The collection of best practices from the region will be completed by the thematic teams of SPC Land Resources Division. This desk-study gathers examples from across the globe.

Energy security exists when all people at all times have access to sufficient sustainable sources of clean and affordable energy and services to enhance their social and economic well?being