Climate Change Resilience
25 July 2016, Rarotonga, Cook Islands - Sharing new findings in science-based climate knowledge products will roll-out across the region. Products developed by the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) program will be at the core of the project to help Pacific islanders gain a deeper understanding of the science.

The project is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is being led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) as a joint initiative on behalf of CSIRO, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

PACCSAP7

The PACCSAP Program established benchmark scientific understanding of past, present and future climate in the western tropical Pacific, including the latest climate projections for partner Pacific island countries. It is expected that this knowledge will be used to provide science-based evidence to inform decision making for climate adaptation planning and disaster risk management across the region.

"The intention is to ensure that a regional focus is maintained for outreach on the latest climate science including support for appropriate development of regional scale capacity and services, to underpin the expected more detailed approach of delivering products and services to national governments, sectors and communities," said Dr Geoff Cooley, Programme Manager of PACCSAP.

"It is also hoped that key sectors within the Pacific islands will be able to use the science information in the suite of materials to help inform and address gaps and needs for planning, so that at the end of the day it is the end-users who benefit from this information," said Dr Netatua Pelesikoti, the Director of the Climate Change Division of SPREP.

Key activities over the course of the coming year include a range of outreach workshops, establishment of an advisory panel and on-line Help Desk of technical and further development of knowledge products in the form of selected climate projection guidance materials and other innovations for existing PACCSAP information and tools.

Just under AUD 1 million, the project started today in the Cook Islands with a special inception workshop. It will end in December 2017.