Executive Summary

This report constitutes the complete outputs of the climate vulnerability a ssessment carried out by RMIT University for Port Vila, Vanuatu throughout 2014. This act ivity forms part of the broader agenda for UN-Habitat’s Cities an d Climate Change Initi ative (CCCI) in the Pacific region. The content contained in this report is based on knowledge generated through three visits to the city by both report authors, a variety of eng agement activity (interviews, wor kshops and a transect walk), elicitation of local/traditional knowledge, collating and analys ing available primary data, and a comprehensive desk-top analysi s of relevant literature. The first field trip was carried ou t in April 2014 with a primary aim of undertaking an actor and policy mapping exercise. Activ ity during this initial visit was pr imarily interview-based and was used to inform an initial scoping report. The second vi sit, in July 2014, involve d a weeklong series of different engagement activities including interv iews, workshops (hosted by Shefa Provincial Government and the Municipal Government), and a tr ansect walk through th e Blacksands informal settlement. A final visit to gather feedback on review of the report draft was conducted in December 2014. Given the limited availability (or inac cessibility) of primary data to support the assessment process – more so than other CCCI cities that have alre ady conducted vulnerability assessments – much of the initial efforts from this first phase have been nec essarily focused on collating the necessary data to support steps 1 and 2 of the UN-Habitat Planning for Climate Change Process (Module A: what is happening?) in order to establish a mo re solid foundation for the assessment. This vulnerability assessment rep ort is in three main parts: 1) It documents the methodology and associa ted activity (as mapped to the CCCI planning structure) and identifies follow up actions; 2) It incorporates a first pass v ulnerability assessment report that ha s been completed adopting the CCCI formatting used for other case studies in the Asia-Pacific region; and 3) It highlights some of the initial findings that have arisen in relation to vulnerable communities – in particular informal settlements - and some of th e key issues that need to be addressed. In addition to sea level rise and ocean acidificati on in the city’s immediate vicinity, a key climate- related hazard identified by stakeholders was localised flooding; a consequenc e of both intense rainfall but also urban dr ainage issues. Susta ining ecosystem services under a changing climate is also seen as critical in the Port Vila context, partic ularly given the importance of tourism and agriculture to the Pacific Island Nation. This first phase of research also hig hlighted the vulnerability of informal settlements both in the urban a nd peri-urban areas, a consequence of their s ensitivity, exposure, and lack of adaptive capacity. Address ing such issues is further co mplicated by complex land tenure arrangements. A full range of direct and indirect impact s is addressed in the report and will form the basis for Planning for Climate Change .