12 June 2023, Honiara, Solomon Islands – The Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) continues to work with the Government of Solomon Islands to ensure the successful Greening of the 2023 Pacific Games. While the targeted support is focused on the Pacific Games, the longer-term vision is to contribute towards a greener and more resilient Honiara City.
A team from the PCCC has just completed a mission in Honiara from 5 – 9June 2023 to finalise its support for the Games.
One of the activities discussed with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology (MECDM) was focused on supporting two Pacific Games villages to become carbon neutral by offsetting the emissions through tree planting and greening activities.
The Games villages are the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) and Saint Joseph Tenaru School.
Mr Chanel Iroi, Deputy Representative Technical of MECDM, acknowledged the assistance of the Pacific Climate Change Centre and SPREP to the Government of Solomon Islands Greening of the Games efforts including- the various projects and programmes in environment and climate change.
He is looking forward to working with the PCCC and SPREP to ensure a successful Pacific Games Greening initiative. The Pacific Games is to be held between 19 November – 2 December 2023.
Ms ‘Ofa Kaisamy, Manager of the PCCC, said: “The support from the PCCC is aligned to the PCCC capacity building and innovation functions specifically on the Outcome of ‘Supporting and implementing innovative climate change solutions in Pacific islands”.
The greening of the Games initiative was first realised during the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa.
The activity is to replicate some of the carbon off-setting activities whilst contributing to the broader resilience of Honiara city.
The support from PCCC also contributes to the whole of SPREP support toward “Greening of the Games” and is aligned strategically with the Solomon Islands Government’s Safe and Green Games Strategy that was launched in March 2023.’
SPREP Project Manager for the PACRES project, Mr Semi Qamese, was part of the mission. He developed the Honiara CBD and Botanical Gardens landscaping Master Plans through the Government of Solomon Islands. This will ensure that the investment by the PCCC and SPREP is adding value to ongoing initiatives.
Other activities during the mission included a courtesy visit with the Vice Chancellor of the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) to discuss the “Partnership Framework for Climate Change Research in the Pacific” and potential research proposal for traditional knowledge as adaptation solutions to building climate change resilience. Applied Research is the second core function of the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC).
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The Manager of the Pacific Climate Change Centre also delivered a presentation on the “Pacific Climate Change Centre Supporting Better Knowledge Brokerage in the Region” at a workshop organised by the Australia Partnership Climate Alumni Network for knowledge brokers in Solomon Islands, which was held on Tuesday 6th June 2023.
The mission team also met with the Director of Meteorology, Officials from the Forestry division, Ministry of Tourism, Development Bank of Solomon Islands, GCF readiness programme team as well as site visits to potential sites for PCCC Greening of the Games support.
Ms Ofa Kaisamy acknowledged the support from the Government of Australia through DFAT and the Government of New Zealand through MFAT which made the mission possible. She also thanked the Government of Solomon Islands through the MECDM for their support.