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Reports from the PACC project

Coastal communities in the Pacific are without doubt some of the most vulnerable to climate change effects in the world. The limited land area in some countries and low profile of atolls (many only 3m above sea level at high tide) exacerbate the vulnerability of these locations, and the governments and people of these countries have limited capacities and resources to cope at all levels.

As with other small islands developing States (SIDS), Pacific island countries (PICs) are highly vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise owing partly to their small land masses surrounded by ocean, and their location in regions prone to natural disasters. PICs are often characterized by having relatively large populations for the area they occupy with high growth rates and densities; poorly developed infrastructure and limited natural, human and economic resources, and their high dependence on marine resources for their livelihood needs. Most of their economies are reliant on a limited resource base and are vulnerable to external forces, such as changing terms of trade, trade liberalization, and migration flows. Adaptive capacity to climate change is generally low.

Guam, the southernmost island of the Mariana Islands, is likely to encounter a significant typhoon every seven years. During the last thirty years two typhoons have passed directly over Guam—Karen (11 November 1962) and Pamela (21 May 1976). Pamela had maximum winds of 120 kt (145 estimated), minimum sea level pressure of 930 mb, a speed of movement at 7 kt, a diameter of 20 nautical miles, and 33 inches of rainfall during the typhoon passage. The typhoon had its greatest effect along the shoreline where erosion removed many bands of beach deposits and where shoreline vegetation was defoliated. Relatively little damage occurred along the adjacent reef-flat platforms and reef margins. Some unconsolidated materials were shifted. The growing tips of some foliaceous corals fragmented. On the reef front a number of corals were overturned by the storm waves.