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The purpose of the national climate change and disaster risk finance assessment is to assist the Government of Kiribati to make informed decisions on measures to improve access to and management of climate change and disaster risk resources.

The negative impacts of climate change are already being felt throughout the Asia and Pacific region. As result, severe effects are expected on societies and economic systems, on the built environment and on the environment throughout the region.

NDC advance is a dedicated technical assistance platform established by the Asian Development (ADB) to help its developing member countries (DMC's) mobilize finance, build capacity, and provide knowledge and other support needed to implement their nationally determined contributions (NDC's). It is being implemented through three separate but strategically linked subprojects

The shared approach recognizes and addresses significant challenges that are endemic to the Pacific. These include: remoteness and isolation, small populations prevalence and diversity of traditional social practices and economies, limited administrative and technical capacity, frequency and severity of natural disasters and vulnerability to climate change.

South Tarawa’s water resources are highly stressed due to the capital’s small land area, lack of natural water storage, competing land uses, and densely populated urban environment. Kiribati already faces significant challenges from oceanic and meteorological conditions, all to be exacerbated by climate change. Sea level rise is of particular concern. Sea water over topping will increasingly threaten the fresh water stored in the groundwater lenses, and sea level rise will also exacerbate existing seasonal conditions such as heavy rains and king tides4 that affect access to safe water

While covid-19 has resulted in a severe global health and economic crisis, it also presents an opportunity for a green, sustainable and resilient recovery. The International Energy agency (IEA) estimated that the pandemic will result in at least a 5% decrease in global energy demand and a 7% decrease in global energy-related greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions 2020, but at the cost of severe economic effects. The recovery phase, in which stimulus funding will be needed can be oritented to support the transaction to a low-carbon energy system while at the same time support economic recovery through job creation and provision of required fundamental quality energy infrastructure.

This report aims to assess the transport sector in the Pacific and to operationalize the transport sector work in the region of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This assessment, strategy, and road map (ASR) provides an overview of the transport sector in the Pacific developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The ASR highlights sector performance, priority development constraints and ADB's support, experience and strategic directions for the transport sector in its Pacific DMCs.

The work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the Pacific energy sector is empowering people and communities. Energy sector operations in ADB’s Pacific developing member countries (DMCs) are financing new sources of renewable power, supply side energy efficiency, and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) to help grids absorb intermittent sources of power. In addition, these operations are supporting stakeholders to improve sector governance, sustainability, regulation, and management.

The Asia and Pacific region is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Unabated warming could significantly undo previous achievements of economic development and improvements of living standards. At the same time, the region has both the economic capacity and weight of influence to change the present fossil-fuel based development pathway and curb global emissions. This report sheds light on the regional implications of the latest projections of changes in climate conditions over Asia and the Pacific. The assessment concludes that, even under the Paris consensus scenario in which global warming is limited to 1.5°C to 2°C above preindustrial levels, some of the land area, ecosystems, and socioeconomic sectors will be significantly affected by climate change impacts, to which policy makers and the investment community need to adapt to. However, under a Business-As-Usual (BAU) scenario, which will cause a global mean temperature rise of over 4°C by the end of this century, the possibilities for adaptation are drastically reduced. Among others, climate change impacts such as the deterioration of the Asian “water towers”, prolonged heat waves, coastal sea-level rise and changes in rainfall patterns could disrupt ecosystem services and lead to severe effects on livelihoods which in turn would affect human health, migration dynamics and the potential for conflicts. This assessment also underlines that, for many areas vital to the region’s economy, research on the effects of climate change is still lacking.

Since 2010, Pacific Island Countries (PICs) have taken steps to develop and implement an integrated action plan, or Joint National Action Plan (JNAP), for climate change (CC) and disaster risk management (DRM). Tonga was the first country to develop its JNAP and to get government approval in July 2010, with several other PICs following suit. The development of a JNAP has been encouraged and facilitated by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) through its Applied Geosciences Division (SOPAC) and multilateral and bilateral development partners such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), GIZ and the Government of Australia. Countries have also made efforts to systematically implement their JNAPs by accessing domestic resources and financial resources available through bilateral and multilateral Official Development Assistance (ODA) and climate change finances (CCF). The purpose of this report is to review the JNAP development and implementation process, and assess lessons learnt for future JNAPs in the region. The review focuses on the Cook Islands and Tonga, which have made progress in implementing their JNAP strategies. These countries obtained support from development partners for JNAP implementation. The review also included Tuvalu, which has completed development of its JNAP with Government endorsement, and countries currently in the process of developing their JNAP – Kiribati, Nauru, Niue and the Republic of Marshall Islands. Reference is also made to other countries such as Palau, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, which chose alternative paths to their integration of CC and DRM.