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This proposal has been prepared by the Ocean and Islands Programme (OIP) within the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in collaboration with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). It has been prepared in response to an invitation1 from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to assist the Cook Islands in deriving coastal related information to underpin and inform climate change adaptation decisions for coastal areas of Mangaia Island.

Technical report

The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change initiative is a regional effort that brings the Pacific nations together to enhance the capacity of countries to increase resilience and reduce vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change.Known simply as PACC, this regional effort constitutes an implementation framework, which caters for a long term approach to adaptation measures by strengthening policy frameworks, instituting design guidelines, and improving capacity with technical expertise. PACC projects are implemented nationally in any key areas; food production and food security, coastal management and water resource management.

Case studies on the Pacific Islands: Capacity Building for the Development of Adaptation Measures in Pacific island countries project - PACIFIC ISLANDS

To introduce this collection of studies, a logical first question to ask is why produce a “lessons learned” publication? The initial impetus for this initiative was an observation by an external evaluation of CARPE that there was relatively little sharing of information within the programme between numerous actors and sites concerning the conservation strategies undertaken and the results achieved (Weidemann Consortium, 2006).1 The evaluation concluded that this lack of information exchange was a threat to the success of CARPE as a large-scale regional programme, a view that was confirmed by programme partners during the CARPE Phase IIB Inception workshop that was held in Yaoundé in February 2007.

The eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) is classified as ‘Endangered’ and of global conservation concern. Numbers are declining because of hunting for bush meat, killing of animals to capture infants for the pet trade, disease, loss of habitat to agriculture and mining, and fragmentation of habitat leading to the isolation of small populations which are likely to become genetically unviable in the long term. This species occurs at a low density wherever it occurs (less than 1/km² of forest on average across much of their range) and has a relatively slow reproductive rate, with one infant born every 4–5 years. Consequently, they need large areas of habitat to maintain viable populations, and take a long time to recover from any reduction in popula-tion from disease or hunting.

Interest in the world’s forests has grown to unprecedented heights, especially with growing awareness of their role in the global carbon cycle. The possibility of mitigating climate change by reducing carbon emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation, and by increasing carbon uptake through afforestation and sustainable forest management, highlights the essential role of forests in supporting life on Earth.