Economics of the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) Training is currently underway to help Pacific Island member countries and territories strengthen the economic elements of the project.
A cost-benefit analysis is a type of economic analysis used to assess the worth of a policy of project. By carrying these out on the PACC projects, it will help inform which project options will confer the greatest benefits for Pacific island communities.
During the first week of November, the PACC national coordinators from Nauru, Niue, Tuvalu, and Tonga, 
underwent training on how to carry out a Cost-Benefit Analysis of their PACC demonstration projects. The focus of this workshop was on water sector climate change adaptation projects.
Over the next three months two more training sessions will be held with the remaining PACC countries, these ones focussing on food security and the coastal sector.
At the 2nd PACC Multipartite Review meeting held in August 2011, PACC member countries acknowledged the need to include Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of pilot demonstration projects to support the adaptation planning and decision making process in the PACC community-based demonstration projects through economic assessment and analysis tools.
UNDP-Samoa Regional Technical Adviser Gabor Vereczi said, "This workshop is an initial step focusing on immediate case applications through facilitating cost-benefit analysis of the projects; further process will involve broader sector and national level economic assessments."
"The workshop involved PACC National Coordinators and their national counterparts in Planning and Finance Ministries and Departments, in order to harness national expertise and build broader national capacity through exercise."
As part of the work program the trained participants will be required to undertake on-the-ground work to complete cost-benefit analyses of their country's PACC demonstration project by May 2012, with support from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), UNDP and partners.
SPREP PACC Project Officer Mr Peniamina Leavai said a major outcome well received by the participants is the increased understanding of the CBA concepts and processes and skills taking into consideration climate change projections and how to consider climate change risks into the analysis.
"Economists that are present here at the training welcomed the initiative knowing that they are using their CBA skills and knowledge on actual on-the-ground work, a rare opportunity to use their understandings."
The workshop was carried out through a partnership technical support including resource economists and technical specialists from SPREP, UNDP, Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and experts from Yale University through the UNDP Global Support Programme on Economics of Climate Change Adaptation.
Tonga PACC National Coordinator Mr Paula Taufa said, "The exercise has been very useful information on costs and benefits of some of the water management activities we are working on to improve our groundwater management and rainwater harvesting in the Hihifo district. This analysis helps compare some design options to finalize details and better understand benefits, for example location and amount of pumps and water pipes, type of materials to use and so forth."
Scheduled for the first quarter of 2012 are countries from the Coastal Zone Management Sector and the Food Production and Food Security Sector.
The PACC Project consists of 14 member countries; it is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).
It is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Australian Agency for International Development with support from United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Climate Change Capacity Development (C3D+) Programme.