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It is indeed a privilege to again be given an opportunity to work with you all on the PACC project. We have all contributed to the development of this project and it is my hope that the spirit of community you have shown through out will trickle over to implementation. I look forward to this challenge with great enthusiasm and I pray that we will all work together to ensure that the implementation process is robust in all facets and at the same time deliver tangible benefits to our people and our region.

The guide is a tool to understanding Pacific communities' vulnerability to climate change, variability and sea level change; and to determining what action needs to be carried out in order to adapt to these changes. In the CV&A process, the focus of data collection is the community that constitutes elders, men, women, youths and children. Their experience in relation to climate variability, change over time, and extreme events become very important. The assessment focuses on current vulnerability to both climate and non-climate related factors, and on examining current adaptive capacity. It then includes evaluation of vulnerability to future climate related risks, involving key stakeholders in the evaluation process. This eventually leads to the formulation of adaptation policies that would strengthen adaptive capacity.

In recent years, global warming has come to the fore as one of the world's most serious environmental problems. Meanwhile, over the past ten years, international negotiations and the accumulation of scientific knowledge in this field have led to remarkable progress — such as the adoption and entry into force of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and the release of the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. With regard to the Kyoto Protocol, which sets forth the commitments of developed countries for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions. Japan completed its ratification procedures in June 2002, and is also working with other countries to make the Protocol's entry into force a reality.