Climate Change Resilience
30 April 2015, Noumea, New Caledonia - The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) has developed a long term recovery strategy to assist Vanuatu as the island nation rebuilds after Tropical Cyclone Pam.
SPREP has prepared a financial contribution to go towards disaster relief as well as dispatching a team of specialists to conduct a Rapid Assessment Survey, in partnership with others, which will be used to develop a long term proposal to help Vanuatu.
Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP
"It is important that we work to support the government systems and programmes in place as Vanuatu recovers," said Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP as he presented at the Oceania 21 Meetings on the findings of the Rapid Assessment Survey in Vanuatu.
"Our aim is to help the government and people of Vanuatu as best we can in their time of need and for that our coordinated efforts are more effective – we all bring our different strengths to the table to help the communities on Vanuatu."
SPREP was part of a team to conduct the World Bank and UNDP Damage Assessment to provide support in the areas of environment economic assessment, meteorological equipment, mapping of impact areas affected by Cyclone Pam, assessment of biodiversity and species, as well as an assessment of waste.
Key environmental assets affected by Cyclone Pam were coral reefs, mangroves, and tropical forests - particularly in the Tafea and Shefa Provinces. Damage to these assets are expected to result in losses of a range of important environmental services including water supply and quality, fisheries stocks, carbon sequestration, and protection against natural hazard events.
"Recommendations have been made to help Vanuatu rebuild using ecosystem-based approaches to reduce future climate risks and to help build the resilience of Vanuatu drawing upon the lessons learnt from the Cyclone Pam experience," said Mr. Sheppard.
"This will help protect communities in Vanuatu and strengthen their resilience and we are happy to be able to provide any support needed from Vanuatu as they rebuild."
The category 5 cyclone was at the center of discussions during the Oceania 21 Conference in New Caledonia this week. Vanuatu felt the full impact of Cyclone Pam as it passed through the island nation with a wide reach that also struck Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
A month on from the cyclone and Vanuatu continues in its rebuilding efforts with the second distribution of relief, the first round of food distributed to the effected populations as well as emergency water supplies distributed to the islands, tools have been shared out as well as water and sanitation hygiene supplied.
150 temporary classrooms have been erected with tarpaulin and shelter kits shared out amongst the affected communities.
"Communities across the country have started to rebuild and reconstruct their lives but the need for humanitarian efforts remains," said the Minister of Climate Change of Vanuatu, Hon. James Bule.
"The Government of Vanuatu wishes to wholeheartedly thank our partners and the international community for their support in our time of need. Our people are resilience but we still need help from our friends as we move to the next stages."
The Oceania 21 Meeting in New Caledonia is held from 28 – 30 April with the objective being to bring about a strengthened Pacific voice as the world heads towards a new global climate agreement to be signed off in Paris at the end of this year.
30 April, 2015 - Blog by Ms. Brianna Fruean, SPREP Youth Ambassador
"It was just over a month ago that pictures flooded the internet with how horribly affected our neighbours in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati were by tropical cyclone Pam. At the time there was so much social media buzz and attention around the disaster that it flooded my news feed until one day it didn't. As a society so revolved around technology we sometimes see social media sights such as facebook as the window looking into our world. That everything we see coming up on our news feed is what is happening around the world and sometimes we think when big news items like cyclone Pam start to die down that it's because the problem has minimised or is fixed. I have to be honest and say I have been blinded my social media sights, I was naive and thought that the state of damage of affected islands must of improved and that's why there is no more news of it. But sitting in on the presentations of cyclone Pam during Oceania 21 it really opened my eyes that just because the world moves on it doesn't mean the country has and it doesn't mean that they don't still need food, water, aid and support. It was heartbreaking hearing all the stories of the cyclone and looking at all the pictures of the devastation. So I promised myself to never let my attention get pulled away from an issue just because more recent shiny news items starting trending. But my mood was pulled back up again when SPREP committed to provide long term support to Vanuatu to rebuild. I think it absolutely fantastic that SPREP is ready to help Vanuatu at their time of need but most of all looking at long term support so that the people of Vanuatu have a stronger and more resilient environment." - Ms. Brianna Fruean
SPREP has prepared a financial contribution to go towards disaster relief as well as dispatching a team of specialists to conduct a Rapid Assessment Survey, in partnership with others, which will be used to develop a long term proposal to help Vanuatu.
Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP"It is important that we work to support the government systems and programmes in place as Vanuatu recovers," said Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP as he presented at the Oceania 21 Meetings on the findings of the Rapid Assessment Survey in Vanuatu.
"Our aim is to help the government and people of Vanuatu as best we can in their time of need and for that our coordinated efforts are more effective – we all bring our different strengths to the table to help the communities on Vanuatu."
SPREP was part of a team to conduct the World Bank and UNDP Damage Assessment to provide support in the areas of environment economic assessment, meteorological equipment, mapping of impact areas affected by Cyclone Pam, assessment of biodiversity and species, as well as an assessment of waste.
Key environmental assets affected by Cyclone Pam were coral reefs, mangroves, and tropical forests - particularly in the Tafea and Shefa Provinces. Damage to these assets are expected to result in losses of a range of important environmental services including water supply and quality, fisheries stocks, carbon sequestration, and protection against natural hazard events.
"Recommendations have been made to help Vanuatu rebuild using ecosystem-based approaches to reduce future climate risks and to help build the resilience of Vanuatu drawing upon the lessons learnt from the Cyclone Pam experience," said Mr. Sheppard.
"This will help protect communities in Vanuatu and strengthen their resilience and we are happy to be able to provide any support needed from Vanuatu as they rebuild."
The category 5 cyclone was at the center of discussions during the Oceania 21 Conference in New Caledonia this week. Vanuatu felt the full impact of Cyclone Pam as it passed through the island nation with a wide reach that also struck Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
A month on from the cyclone and Vanuatu continues in its rebuilding efforts with the second distribution of relief, the first round of food distributed to the effected populations as well as emergency water supplies distributed to the islands, tools have been shared out as well as water and sanitation hygiene supplied.
150 temporary classrooms have been erected with tarpaulin and shelter kits shared out amongst the affected communities.
Damage left behind Tropical Cyclone Pam in Port Vila, image courtesy of World Vision
"Communities across the country have started to rebuild and reconstruct their lives but the need for humanitarian efforts remains," said the Minister of Climate Change of Vanuatu, Hon. James Bule.
"The Government of Vanuatu wishes to wholeheartedly thank our partners and the international community for their support in our time of need. Our people are resilience but we still need help from our friends as we move to the next stages."
The Oceania 21 Meeting in New Caledonia is held from 28 – 30 April with the objective being to bring about a strengthened Pacific voice as the world heads towards a new global climate agreement to be signed off in Paris at the end of this year.
30 April, 2015 - Blog by Ms. Brianna Fruean, SPREP Youth Ambassador
"It was just over a month ago that pictures flooded the internet with how horribly affected our neighbours in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Kiribati were by tropical cyclone Pam. At the time there was so much social media buzz and attention around the disaster that it flooded my news feed until one day it didn't. As a society so revolved around technology we sometimes see social media sights such as facebook as the window looking into our world. That everything we see coming up on our news feed is what is happening around the world and sometimes we think when big news items like cyclone Pam start to die down that it's because the problem has minimised or is fixed. I have to be honest and say I have been blinded my social media sights, I was naive and thought that the state of damage of affected islands must of improved and that's why there is no more news of it. But sitting in on the presentations of cyclone Pam during Oceania 21 it really opened my eyes that just because the world moves on it doesn't mean the country has and it doesn't mean that they don't still need food, water, aid and support. It was heartbreaking hearing all the stories of the cyclone and looking at all the pictures of the devastation. So I promised myself to never let my attention get pulled away from an issue just because more recent shiny news items starting trending. But my mood was pulled back up again when SPREP committed to provide long term support to Vanuatu to rebuild. I think it absolutely fantastic that SPREP is ready to help Vanuatu at their time of need but most of all looking at long term support so that the people of Vanuatu have a stronger and more resilient environment." - Ms. Brianna Fruean