The Climate Council is an independent, crowd-funded organisation providing quality information on climate change to the Australian public. This factsheet contains useful information about the influence of climate change on tropical cyclones, coastal flooding, storm surges, etc.

This is the first edition of the Increasing Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards (IRCCNH) Project newsletter. This quarterly newsletter is an initiative to share information on the project’s activities to increasing the resilience of our people and communi-ties to the issues affecting our countries as a result of climate change and natural hazards in Vanuatu. In this first edition, we provide an overview of the IRCCNH Project approach and locations and some high-lights of components past activities in various project sites in Vanuatu.

This brochure contains information on the IRCCNH project.

The Increasing Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards (IRCCNH) Project in Vanuatu is a project belonging to the Vanuatu Government and is currently implemented by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-hazards Department (VMGD) under the Ministry of Climate Change and Natural Disasters.

The brochure contains the Project Profile information andd outlines the project objectives, beneficiaries and Key Stakeholder Partners.

Below is an extract of the Minister's Forward from the MCCA 2016 Annual Report:

The Increasing Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards Project (IRCCNH) is a program of works for Vanuatu to improve the resilience of smallholders and communities to the impact of climate variability and change on food, household water security and livelihoods. The project has been effective since April 2013, but in February 2017 the Government of Vanuatu (GoV) requested a restructure to simplify the project and focus on community-level investments following Tropical Cyclone (TC) Pam.

With support from the EU PacTVET project, The Pacific Community (SPC) and the German aid agency (GIZ) Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Region (CCPIR) programme Vanuatu is currently delivering the first nationally accredited TVET qualification in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) in the region (and world).  This paper presents this initiative in Vanuatu focused on coastal communities and also makes the case for using accredited regional and national TVET qualifications to support capacity development.

The Increasing Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards Project (IRCCNH) is a program of works for Vanuatu to improve the resilience of smallholders and communities to the impact of climate variability and change on food, household water security and livelihoods.  The project has been effective since April 2013, but in February 2017 the Government of Vanuatu (GoV) requested a restructure to simplify the project and focus on community-level investments following Tropical Cyclone (TC) Pam. 

Adaptation to Climate Change in the Coastal Zone in Vanuatu (VCAP) begun the implementation of its activities this year at the 3 project sites namely Epi, Pentecost and Aniwa as part of the recovery program for cyclone Pam. Activities carried out by the upland team(Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock), Fisheries team and the Department of Local Authorities team(DLA).

Upland team established a permanent nursery at Epi and planted the vetiver grasses, bandanas and natangura along the eroded coastal areas from Malvasi village to Burumba village at West Epi.

Welcome to our Third Edition of the Vanuatu C o a s t a l A d a p t a t i o n P r o j e c t ( V C A P ) Newsletter. This edition provides another initiative to share information’s about the implementation of activities that has been carried out over the last period of three months, January to April of 2017, b y t h e P r o j e c t components at the target vulnerable areas of the V a n u a t u C o a s t a l Adaptation Project sites. We hope you find it to be i n f o r m a t i v e a n d

The lack of incentives for the effective participation of farmers in the fruits and vegetable sector leading to an increased reliance and dependency on imported forms of fruits and vegetable products in the domestic markets have been attributed to a number of factors of which inconsistency in supply and deficient quality in fruits and vegetable products are more prominent. These dual negative factors are the direct result of the lack of coordination and management of the sector.

Released by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), this document provides definitions in the three working languages of the Republic of Vanuatu (Bislama, English, and French) for six natural hazards: cyclones, earthquakes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, and volcanoes.

Released by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), this document provides definitions for commonly used disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster management (DM) terms.

This vocabulary was created as part of the Griffith University Pacific iClim Project. The Project has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade initiative Government Partnerships for Development Program to support SPREP in implementing a regional approach to climate change data and information management throughout the Pacific. 

Between May 2013 and December 2014, CARE implemented a disaster risk reduction project in Vanuatu’s TAFEA province. The Yumi Redi 2 project aimed to increase the capacity of vulnerable communities to prepare for and respond to disasters. This case study of the village of Dillons Bay (on Errromango island) illustrates the impact of this project on the community’s practices before, during and after Cyclone Pam. Striking Vanuatu on March 13th 2015, this category five cyclone was one of the worst storms ever to hit the region.

The island Republic of Vanuatu is one of the most climatologically and seismically vulnerable countries in the world. Situated in the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘cyclone belt’, it is susceptible to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones and both flood and drought. With the onset of climate change, extreme weather events are increasing the number and severity of natural disasters.

Ecosystem and socio-economic resilience analysis and mapping (ESRAM) is the first phase of the Pacific Ecosystem-Based Adaptation to Climate Change project (PEBACC), a five-year initiative funded by the German Government and implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Pacific women and girls continue to face significant disadvantages despite Pacific Island Countries (PICs) committing to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with the exception of Palau and Tonga, Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), the Revised Pacific Platform for Action on the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality (RPPA), and other relevant regional agreements. Gender inequality and women’s disempowerment are causal factors in why women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change and disasters.

In 2013, the Government of Vanuatu and UNDP requested technical assistance from the USAID funded Adapt Asia-Pacific Project to support four specialists, including an International Gender Advisor, to prepare the “Adaptation to Climate Change in the Coastal Zone in Vanuatu Project” (VCAP).

As the #1 ranked country for vulnerability on the World Risk Index, the lives of men and women in Vanuatu are constantly threatened by climate change and disasters. Following the most devastating cyclone to ever hit Vanuatu – cyclone Pam in 2015 – and widespread drought as a result of a strong El Nino event throughout 2015 and most of 2016, the impacts are growing ever more severe with climate change predicted to increase the intensity and impacts of such events over time.

The World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 provides a unique opportunity for governments, UN agencies and civil society actors to set an ambitious agenda for empowering women and girls as change agents and leaders in humanitarian action and ensuring gender responsive humanitarian programming. However for these commitments to translate into meaningful action, it is critical to respond to the barriers that currently impact women’s leadership in emergencies, and build upon the existing efforts of women first responders and women-led organisations.