This report explores the opportunities that recognising blue carbon could bring to Vanuatu. Commissioned by the Government of Vanuatu from the Commonwealth Secretariat, it sets out the opportunities, supportive arguments, and issues and potential barriers around incorporating blue carbon as part of their overall climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy.
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.
This Urban Risk Management Strategy (the URMS or the Strategy) provides a response to the hazards, risks and urban growth trends identified for Vanuatu’s two urban areas, the greater Port Vila Urban Area and Luganville. It is Stage 3 of the Risk Mapping and Planning for Urban Preparedness Project (the Project) being undertaken by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) as part of the broader Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction Project.
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.
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).
The Government of Vanuatu has decided to develop an oceans policy, which aligns with recommendations from the
Commonwealth Secretariat.
This report summarises the main findings1 of an analysis and assessment of 69 instruments of legislation and
subordinate policies and plans that are relevant to management and use of Vanuatu’s territorial waters and therefore
relevant to the development of the national oceans policy. The review of Vanuatu’s legislation, policies, strategies and
The project will involve a participatory process to identify and implement climate change adaptation measures, through the use of gender sensitive data gathering tools; specific location/areas for implementing adaptation measures and project sites will be identified during the project design phase in close consultation with relevant stakeholders. The project will increase the climate resilience of poor communities living on the selected island.
The Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) in collaboration with the IFRC and American Red Cross has received an award from USAID/OFDA to design and test a set of tools and services to assist RCRC National Societies and their partners to create effective city coalitions on community resilience, targeting climate smart resilience and coastal risk reduction in particular.
Van-KIRAP technical report on Marine Heat Waves - "Van-KIRAP technical report on Marine Heat Waves"
The “Committing to Sustainable Waste Actions in the Pacific” referred to hereafter as SWAP project aims to improve sanitation, environmental, social, and economic conditions in Pacific Island countries and territories through proper waste management.
To achieve this, the overall work focuses on three streams of wastes: used oil, marine debris, disaster wastes and an overarching issue on sustainable financing mechanisms.
Six countries and territories benefit from this overall project which include Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna.
World Fisheries Day is celebrated annually on November 21. The annual event recognises the importance of our fisheries whether it’s coastal or offshore. Additionally, it is a call for restoration of some of our degraded ecosystems that support important fisheries. One of which is seagrass. Seagrass is an important blue carbon ecosystem providing ecosystem goods and services such as carbon storage, shoreline protection, food security, tourism revenue and water quality. It is a highly efficient carbon sink, storing up to 18 per cent of the world’s oceanic carbon.
The ‘protection of low-lying coastal settlement’ scenario targets improving the understanding of the benefits of adaptation toward building preparedness and reducing the impacts of severe events and climate change, as well as determining the cost effectiveness of adaptation options. These are key requirements identified within the Vanuatu National Adaptation Programme for Action (NAPA).
This is the Project Profile form.