Sea’ties Regional Report – Adapting Coastal Cities and Territories to Sea Level Rise in the Pacific: Challenges and Leading Practices
From July 10 to 12, 2023, 55 stakeholders, including elected and government officials, practitioners, scientists, and NGO representatives, from 16 Pacific Island countries and territories (PICTs), gathered in Nadi, Fiji, for a regional workshop focused on Adapting Coastal Cities and Territories to Sea Level Rise in the Pacific.
Organised by the Sea’ties initiative led by the Ocean & Climate Platform, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), and the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC), and with financial support from the Fonds Pacifique (French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs), and the KIWA Initiative, this workshop marked the conclusion of a cycle of five regional workshops (Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the West Coast of the United States, and West Africa). These workshops informed the Ocean & Climate Platform’s Policy recommendations for coastal cities to adapt to sea level rise.
Drawing on insights gained from individual interviews and the workshop, the Sea’ties initiative is releasing the report “Adapting Coastal Cities and Territories to Sea Level Rise in the Pacific: Challenges and Leading Practices.” Complementing previous reports, it provides an overview of current adaptation challenges faced across the region, along with inspiring initiatives to address them.
Pacific Island Countries and Territories are facing rapidly changing ocean and coastal conditions due to climate change, and are particularly vulnerable to sea level rise (SLR). In a region where many islands are low-lying, where the vast majority of the population lives by the ocean and where the coast is rapidly urbanising, SLR is an existential issue and it is paramount to fast-track both mitigation and adaptation action.
Informing coastal adaptation strategies in a context of limited resources
Informed adaptation action faces significant knowledge gaps. Multiple initiatives are addressing the lack of local data such as the geo-data company Fugro which has deployed LiDAR technology and visualisation to inform Tuvalu’s Coastal Adaptation Plan. In parallel, substantial support in local research capacities and across multiple fields are needed, notably through the recognition and appropriate mobilisation of Indigenous and local knowledge. In line with this, the PACPATH research project engages multiple stakeholders, including traditional leadership, to develop a comprehensive mapping of vulnerabilities. The Coastal Observatory of New Caledonia (OBLIC), responsible for monitoring the coast, relies on participatory sciences, involving local authorities, NGOs and schools. Meanwhile, the monitoring, evaluation, and exchange of lessons learnt from past and current projects can accelerate knowledge production and uptake, thereby avoiding the repetition of mistakes. As Nature-based Solutions have been historically used and continue to gain momentum in the region, but remain poorly reported, the ADAPTOM project has developed a mapping and analysis of enabling conditions, potential and externalities of NbS in the region.
Delivering locally-led adaptation coordinated at regional level
Adaptation projects in the Pacific are often externally-driven, and can fail to align with local populations and their needs. Concurrently, locally-driven adaptation planning is more likely to deliver long-term responses that reflect traditional practices and systems. The Republic of Marshall Islands has led extensive consultations with communities who have been able to voice their preferences as part of the National Adaptation Plan. Locally-led adaptation implies strengthening capacities and decisional power of national and local authorities, communities, and important agents of change such as women. In line with this, Fiji has established a dedicated Trust Fund to support the climate relocation of communities.
Additionally, fostering cooperation among localities and islands is essential to avoid transfers of impacts, while expanding the range of solutions available, especially in the context of Pacific islands where the availability of land is limited and land uses compete. Accordingly, Tuvalu’s Long-Term Adaptation Plan (L-TAP), while focusing efforts on raising the main island, is conceived as a national plan able to ensure the safe relocation of people and infrastructure for the entire country.
Planning for long-term adaptation
Confronted with recurring extreme events (e.g., tropical cyclones), cities and territories across the Pacific are often forced to operate within a framework of emergency or recovery rather than preparedness.
Devising long-term adaptation strategies entails a dynamic approach where responses are phased across time and space and are able to evolve according to environmental and societal changes. In line with this approach, the Thames Coromandel District Council in New Zealand has developed 138 coastal adaptation pathways addressing near-term and long-term issues. Likewise, the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility has been providing guidelines to encourage the deployment of dynamic adaptive pathways for infrastructure.
Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) constitutes a low-regret approach which can easily be geared toward dynamic planning. The PEBACC+ regional project supports the development and institutionalisation of EbA.
To read the full Report, click on the image below.
