Climate Change Resilience
27 September, 2013, Apia, Samoa, 24SM - A Pacific Climate Change Centre to be hosted at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) in Apia, Samoa is envisioned for the region.
The 2013 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting, held in the Marshall Islands, highlighted climate change as the greatest threat to the peoples of the Pacific and issued a statement on "Marshalling the Pacific Response to Climate Change".
Pursuing the new Pacific Climate Change Centre is one avenue where SPREP aims to marshall the Pacific response to climate change.
The Centre will act as an expanded hub for SPREP's climate change support to Pacific Island Countries and Territories in particular, Climate Change Policy; Adaptation and Mitigation Programmes; the Pacific Meteorological Partnership Desk; Partnerships for Climate Change; Access to Climate Finance and; Climate Change Research. The establishment of the Centre will encourage partnerships throughout the region and internationally as a key element of building the resilience of Pacific countries to climate change.
"I applaud the decision by SPREP Members to develop the Pacific Climate Change Centre at SPREP. This Centre will be a focus for innovation and climate leadership in this region and in the world. It has the full support of my Government and we have sent this proposal to the Government of Japan with the strong endorsement of the Government of Samoa," said Hon. Prime Minister of Samoa, Afioga Tuilaepa Lupesoli'ai Sailele Malielegaoi.
If successful, the new centre could be up and running by 2016.
The Centre will be designed as a showpiece for leadership in energy and environmental design. Low energy consumption, anaerobic treatment of sewage, photovoltaic panels and a green roof thermal insulation are a few of the new technologies to be part of the design of the Pacific Climate Change Centre.
It will also enable SPREP and Japan to engage in more extensive cooperation in terms of technical expertise and information sharing, applying the same model currently used by SPREP's Waste Management and Pollution Control Division whereby Japanese technical staff are based at SPREP under the J-PRISM waste Project.
"We have envisaged an interactive centre that supports Pacific climate research and partnerships, one that mirrors the Caribbean Climate Change Community Centre - the inter governmental agency on climate change for the Caribbean region with which we are working quite closely at the moment," said Mr. David Sheppard, Director-General of SPREP.
"This new building will be the main hub of climate change for the Pacific region. We are excited by the possibilities the Pacific Climate Change Centre will bring."
The Pacific Climate Change Centre was one of the issues on the agenda before the 24th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme in Apia, Samoa from 17 to 19 September. The Meeting was chaired by the Government of Nauru and brought together 24 of the 26 members of SPREP, including the newest member, the Government of the United Kingdom.
Former host and chair of the 2012 Annual SPREP Meeting was New Caledonia.