International adaptation
Climate change does not stop at country borders. The effects of climate change are being felt in our region with implications for Australia’s trade, migration, development and national security. The Australian Government continues to make major contributions to address the effects of climate change through international engagement, including our aid program.
The Australian Government is focused on making sure our international climate change assistance is effective and that climate change risks are considered in all our aid investments. Through its aid program, the Government will invest at least $1 billion in climate finance over five years (from 2015 to 2020) to reduce emissions and build resilience in developing countries. This includes $300 million over four years for climate change and disaster resilience support for the Pacific. It also includes $200 million over four years to the Green Climate Fund under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which provides support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The Australian Government contributes funding to the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), which provides regional Pacific guidance on climate change policy. SPREP partners with Griffith University on the Pacific Climate Change Information Management project (iCLIM). A major part of the iCLIM project is developing a Pacific Climate Change Portal (PCCP). This portal provides access to both climate change data and decision tools. Further information about SPREP is available on Australia's international marine conservation engagement.
The Australian Government also leads two international partnerships, the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Partnership and the International Partnership for Blue Carbon, which are helping to build country capacity and mobilise resources to scale up global mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Like Australia, our Pacific neighbours have long demonstrated resilience in the face of challenging climatic conditions. The Government continues to support our Pacific Island neighbours to adapt to the impacts of climate change, for example by providing tools and information about climate, oceans and tides through the Bureau of Meteorology’s Climate Oceans and Support Program in the Pacific.
The Australian Government’s investments through the East Timor Climate Science Program (2011-2013); the Pacific Adaptation Assistance Program (2008-2012); Pacific Climate Change Science Program (2008-2012) and the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning programme (2011-2015) have enhanced regional climate science and adaptation planning capacity through a number of activities—for example, by formulating the first ever country-scale climate projections for 14 Pacific Island countries and East Timor.
A small island in Gizo in the Solomon Islands, with trees and a few houses
Pacific countries involved in these programmes were the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
New science knowledge has informed the work of Pacific governments, building the information base for effective international negotiation and the development of national climate resilience plans and strategies. Pacific island countries use this information in sectoral planning at national and sub-national levels, and to educate and raise community awareness of climate change risks and effects.
For more information about how Australia is working with our country neighbours to create a more resilient and secure region please visit the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Overview of Australia's assistance for climate change.
Please visit Terra Nova to access PACCSAP products, metadata and datasets.