11 November 2022, Sharma El-Sheikh - The work of the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) to deliver capacity building programmes in adaptation, mitigation, and access to climate finance, has been showcased in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on the sidelines of COP27.
During a side event at the Moana Pacific Pavilion on Thursday, Pacific delegates who have benefited from the training programs delivered by the PCCC, shared stories of how they are able to make a real difference in their countries.
Samoa’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MNRE), Hon. Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster said that “As part of SPREP members, I would like to thank our partners, SPREP and the Government of Japan through JICA, for taking this strong and practical initiative on capacity building and congratulate the successful completion of the project”.
Deputy Director General, Group Director for Environmental Management / Director, Office for Climate Change, JICA, Mr. Akihiro Miyazaki, also congratulated the project completion in his remarks.
“To combat climate change, JICA has supported capacity building through various assistance schemes, including loans, grants, and technical cooperation, to achieve Paris Agreement. In the Pacific, JICA implements various projects in different sectors and schemes. By utilising the outcome of this project, we would like to promote a co-benefit approach, which contributes to the sustainable development and addresses climate issues at the same time,” Mr Miyazaki said.
Government officials from the Pacific region shared their experience of the training program and expressed their appreciation. Ms Theresa Wombon-Kambuy, who works for the Department of Agriculture and Livestock in Papua New Guinea (PNG), attended the virtual training on “Climate Resilience and Food Production Systems” in 2021. “The lessons learned during the workshop were that critical thinking was needed to find the problem and causes and how these causes can become objectives of project implementation. The lessons learnt from this program have really helped us,” she said.
Mr Corry Ariote Abraham of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Ms Rossylynn Pulehetoa-Mitiepo of Niue, joined their PNG counterparts to echo similar experiences. They say they are extremely grateful for the opportunity to learn knowledge which they are using to change their countries for the better. In the latter part of the panel discussion, Ms Eunice Dus of PNG also expressed the continuous need for capacity building by the PCCC.
The PCCC is the regional Centre of Excellence for climate change hosted at SPREP. It is a partnership between the Governments of Japan and Samoa and is funded under grant aid through JICA for Samoa as the host country of SPREP.
The Centre aims to deliver capacity development programs in adaptation, mitigation, climate science and services, and climate finance, promote and foster applied research, drive innovation in these areas and improve the flow of climate change information.
SPREP’s Director of Climate Change Resilience, Ms Tagaloa Cooper said the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the training delivery under the Project.
“To overcome this challenge, SPREP and PCCC took a strong initiative to establish the PCCC E-Learning Platform, and we have successfully delivered all the 12 training programs as scheduled.” she said.
Manager of the PCCC, Ms 'Ofa Ma’asi-Kaisamy, expressed appreciation to member countries for their participation as well as the continuous support from the partners: the Government of Samoa, Japan, New Zealand and Ireland for their support for the PCCC. She concluded the side event, expressing the PCCC’s commitment to the continuous delivery of capacity building and training programs.
The 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP27) is being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022.
It is being attended by Pacific leaders and their delegations, who are advocating for their survival. The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is lead of the One CROP, working together to provide support to Pacific Islands.