Eleven Pacific countries and territories and Timor-Leste have benefitted from the continuation of a training programme designed to build capacity and strengthen understanding of climate change risk and vulnerability, primary adaptation and mitigation options for food production systems.
The 7th executive training on “Climate Resilience and Food Production Systems - Agriculture and Coastal Fisheries” from 20 September to 15 October 2021. It was delivered in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) by the Pacific Climate Change Centre’s Project for Capacity Building on Climate Resilience in the Pacific (CBCRP-PCCC) through the PCCC e-Learning Platform. It was attended by more than 65 participants.
One of them was Ms Elizabeth Pua, from Tonga, who said: “It is important to be well aware of the mitigation and adaptation ways for climate resilient food production systems such as agriculture and coastal fisheries, because these two sectors are most likely every Pacific Island’s livelihood.”
Climate adaptation and mitigation options were explored using Pacific case studies in order for participants to understand not only the theoretical aspects of adaptation and mitigation measures but also the actual implementation on the ground.
Another important component of the training is for participants to develop skills to prepare problem and objective trees and logical frameworks for developing a project concept to access climate finance.
Participants were given the opportunity to work within their country groups and exchange their views on climate change related challenges.
For example, one country came up with a concept to enhance water resources for supporting agriculture activities, considering their climate change impacts such as precipitation changes and droughts. Another country, which is affected by sea level rise and coastal erosion, developed a project concept to improve traditional food systems using both tradition knowledge and climate smart agriculture and fisheries.
PCCC Manager, Ms. 'Ofa Ma’asi-Kaisamy said the exercise was valuable.
“It is important to equip climate practitioners with the skills for project development. Together with this exercise, this programme aims to contribute to the implementation of national climate policies, strategies and plans related to agriculture and coastal fisheries sectors which are key economic sectors of the Pacific.”
The training was delivered by the CBCRP-PCCC in partnership with the Government of Samoa, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
For further information on the training courses delivered through this project, please contact [email protected].