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There are opportunities to capture more experience from initiatives at the local level, which can support objectives of the NBSAP and strengthen national reporting. Further research on gender and biodiversity can usefully build on the knowledge base on gender and environment themes, and gender and climate change in particular. Research and sharing of experience are also needed to promote and strengthen understanding and awareness of the relevance of gender to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in the nation context.

Indigenous peoples and local communities often depend on natural resources and biodiversity to meet their subsistence needs and sustain their livelihoods. They have demonstrated their ability to be highly effective natural resource managers under the right conditions, but are also vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change.

Climate change exacerbates the magnitude and impacts of climate variability and some natural hazards. The existence of some Pacific Island countries (PICs) is threatened by climate change. Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs) are highly exposed to a range of natural hazards of hydro-meteorological origin (such as cyclones, droughts, landslides and floods) and geological origin (including volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis). These hazards often lead to disasters, which affect thousands of people and exacerbate existing development challenges in the region. Climate change predictions identify changes for the Pacific including an increase in extreme hot days and warm nights, extreme rainfall events, intensity of tropical cyclones in the South Pacific, sea level rise and ocean acidification. Climate change is increasing the risks from weather related disasters and posing new impacts to the region. Climate change impacts also cause progressive long-term degradation to the natural environment, to critical ecosystems (e.g. coral reefs), and to social and economic systems, resulting in loss and damage to the system upon which Pacific Island communities depend for their subsistence and livelihoods.

Ocean warming may well turn out to be the greatest hidden challenge of our generation. Whilst some may be aware of the challenges a warming ocean presents to coral reefs, few know about the other consequences this holds for the ocean. Ocean acidification emerged as a new story around 2004, with problems already being encountered due to changes in ocean chemistry, and yet add ocean warming and there is a far bigger story to tell. In this report, we assess the scale of the challenge and explore this issue from a range of different perspectives – oceanography, ecosystems and species. We also look at the impacts ocean warming might have on the every-day benefits we derive from the ocean – its ‘goods and services’. This is a very timely report. We know the ocean is warming. Until very recently, the debate on climate change has focused on specific themes such as land surface temperatures, melting ice caps in Greenland and Polar Regions, and shrinking glaciers in mountain ranges. It has only occasionally mentioned the ocean. When the ocean was included, the issues discussed generally related to dramatic changes to coral reefs, as we have seen in 2016 when water temperature rises turning beautifully-coloured reefs a ghostly white from bleaching.

Invasive alien species (IAS) threaten human livelihoods and biodiversity globally. Increasing globalization facilitates IAS arrival, and environmental changes, including climate change, facilitate IAS establishment. Here we provide the first global, spatial analysis of the terrestrial threat from IAS in light of twenty-first century globalization and environmental change, and evaluate national capacities to prevent and manage species invasions. We find that one-sixth of the global land surface is highly vulnerable to invasion, including substantial areas in developing economies and biodiversity hotspots. The dominant invasion vectors differ between high-income countries (imports, particularly of plants and pets) and low-income countries (air travel). Uniting data on the causes of introduction and establishment can improve early-warning and eradication schemes. Most countries have limited capacity to act against invasions. In particular, we reveal a clear need for proactive invasion strategies in areas with high poverty levels, high biodiversity and low historical levels of invasion.

In a large, diverse region like the Pacific, clear and concise communication of both successes and lessons learned is vital for further effective development. A workshop was created to help the participants develop stories to “tell the world what the Pacific is doing on climate services.” The week-long writing workshop or “writeshop” created a space for climate service providers to learn outreach writing skills and how to analyse their own efforts. The writeshop was coordinated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) with support from the Climate and Oceans Support Programme in the Pacific (COSPPac) and Environment and Climate Change Canada. This first writeshop for climate services in the Pacific was a productive and intense week of growth for the participants, resulting in 20 stories for a regional compendium.

In the Pacific islands region the impacts of global climate change are becoming increasingly apparent, driving efforts to adapt and decrease the production of greenhouse gases (GHG) through combustion of fossil fuels. On Majuro atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), one initiative to mitigate the impact of climate change is the manufacturing of briquettes out of waste paper and cardboard, to replace the imported coal briquettes that are widely used for cooking.

Factsheet on the Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change project

The food systems of the Pacific region are undergoing massive changes that will be felt for generations to come. Profound changes need to be applied to the food systems in order to deal with challenges such as rapid population growth, urbanisation and the importing of cheap, but nutritionally poor, foods. These challenges are causing some of the highest levels of obesity and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, in the world. This booklet puts forward a set of contrasting scenarios that summarise the most important and uncertain drivers of change. The scenarios can be used to develop and test policies, plans and strategies for the future and encourage the necessary investments to support adaptation to agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture.

Project Brief on ISACC