There is no doubt that our climate is changing. This will
pose huge challenges to nations, organisations, enterprises,
cities, communities and individuals. Developing
countries will suffer most from the adverse consequences
of climate change, and some highly vulnerable regions
and people are already being affected.
There is increasing agreement that if temperatures rise
by no more than 2 °C the earth’s integrity can be preserved
and many of the potentially grave consequences
of climate change could be avoided. This threshold is

Warming of the climate system is unequivocal,
as is now evident from observations of
increases in global average air and ocean temperatures,
widespread melting of snow and ice,
and rising global average sea level.”

At the first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) held in Berlin in 1995, Atiq
Rahman of the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies gave an
impassioned speech to the delegates and warned, “If climate change makes
our country uninhabitable . . . we will march with our wet feet into your
living rooms.”1 Climate change related impacts such as floods, tsunamis,
hurricanes, and drought have already caused millions of people around the

Every person has the following fundamental duties to himself and his descendants and to others to protect the Republic of Vanuatu and to safeguard the national wealth, resources and environment in the interests of the present generation and of future generations (Art. 7d, Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu).

“By reducing the vulnerability of Vanuatu’s vital sectors and communities now to current climate-related risks should place the country in a better position to cope with future climate change and to build sustainable ni-Vanuatu communities. The ideal approach to adaptation in Vanuatu is a pro-active, no-regrets approach which encompasses measures and strategies which can be implemented in the present with the aim of reducing vulnerability in the future.

The Republic of Vanuatu ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 09 March 1993, and submitted its Initial National Communication (INC) to the UNFCCC on 30 October 1999. Following the preparation of its INC, Vanuatu has initiated efforts to create an institutional set-up that seeks to mainstream climate change issues into the national legal frameworks. Moreover, its INC provides compelling evidence that, by global standards, Vanuatu is one of the nations most vulnerable to climate change and sea-level rise.

Vanuatu ranks as the world’s most vulnerable country due to its high exposure to natural disasters, scattered island geography, narrow economic base, inadequate communication and transportation networks, and limited capacity to cope with disasters including those caused or exacerbated by the effects of climate change. Annually Vanuatu is impacted by a number of cyclones, which are expected to become more intense under current climatic projections, with coastal communities and ecosystems being most vulnerable and impacted by these events.