Climate Change Resilience
4 July, 2013, Nadi, Fiji—Jennifer deBrum of the Republic of the Marshall Islands has been in involved in Pacific Climate Change Roundtable meetings before. Two years ago the RMI hosted the meetings where she was very busy as logistics coordinator. She says that this is the first time that she has actually been able to act as a participant, and it's an important role. deBrum is the de facto climate change coordinator for the RMI.
As far as that goes, her job title in the Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination is Chief of Administration and Finance. "Climate change", doesn't appear in her title but RMI's climate change efforts are her bailiwick. She says that the title may soon change but the job title change has not yet been made official.
She says that she has had several "ah hah" moments as a participant in the roundtable. Particularly she found the presentation on climate change financing to be especially enlightening. "I didn't know it was so complex," she exclaims. "I realized that there are definitely some things that we need to do better."
She also says that she intends to "re-table" RMI's Joint National Action Plan. "It's been developed. It's been validated by the community but it's never been put on the agenda for discussion at the Parliament," she says. It's time to do that.
She said that the comprehensive plan was validated by the Mayor's Association, Women's community groups, non-governmental agencies, implementing organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, and many other community members. She plans to get that process rolling again just as soon as she returns in just over a week.
She said that another very important benefit of the roundtable is networking, meeting people whose names she may have known before but whose faces she had never seen. "It'll be much easier to do my job when I know the people," she said.
She specifically mentioned Fenno Brunken whose position at SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) is funded by GIZ, Germany's agency for foreign assistance, and Pasha Carruthers, also of SPC. deBrum said that since the roundtables began, Brunken and Carruthers have helped her to come up with interesting ideas in terms of Climate Change plans for the RMI.
As far as that goes, her job title in the Office of Environmental Planning and Policy Coordination is Chief of Administration and Finance. "Climate change", doesn't appear in her title but RMI's climate change efforts are her bailiwick. She says that the title may soon change but the job title change has not yet been made official.
She says that she has had several "ah hah" moments as a participant in the roundtable. Particularly she found the presentation on climate change financing to be especially enlightening. "I didn't know it was so complex," she exclaims. "I realized that there are definitely some things that we need to do better."
She also says that she intends to "re-table" RMI's Joint National Action Plan. "It's been developed. It's been validated by the community but it's never been put on the agenda for discussion at the Parliament," she says. It's time to do that.
She said that the comprehensive plan was validated by the Mayor's Association, Women's community groups, non-governmental agencies, implementing organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency, and many other community members. She plans to get that process rolling again just as soon as she returns in just over a week.
She said that another very important benefit of the roundtable is networking, meeting people whose names she may have known before but whose faces she had never seen. "It'll be much easier to do my job when I know the people," she said.
She specifically mentioned Fenno Brunken whose position at SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) is funded by GIZ, Germany's agency for foreign assistance, and Pasha Carruthers, also of SPC. deBrum said that since the roundtables began, Brunken and Carruthers have helped her to come up with interesting ideas in terms of Climate Change plans for the RMI.