24 January 2014: The first meeting for the three-year multi-million dollar Pacific Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR) brought together donors, partners and representatives of Pacific island countries to discuss planning and implementation as the project gets underway.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFs) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) are working in partnership with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support Pacific island countries in building resilience to climate change impacts through the PPCR. The PPCR, a targeted programme under the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF), one of the two Climate Investment Funds (CIF), supports countries in their evolution towards climate resilient development paths, in tandem with sustainable development and poverty reduction.

The PPCR’s Pacific programme includes: a national component in Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga, where US$60 million has been allocated for national projects; and a regional component with a pilot project that supports mainstreaming adaptation into national development plans, where US$10 million has been earmarked. SPREP will be responsible for implementing regional activities worth approximately US$3.61 million of the US$10 million.

The PPCR aims to improve Pacific islands’ capacity to respond to climate change impacts and natural disasters by integrating climate resilience into development plans, and provides additional funding for public and private sector investments. Marilou Drilon, ADB, said that ADB and SPREP technical assistance will, inter alia, target the food and infrastructure sectors of selected Pacific countries through learning-by-doing and training practitioners, among other things.

The meeting convened at the SPREP headquarters in Apia, Samoa, from 20-21 January 2014. The Pacific PPCR is expected to run through May 2016. [SPREP Press Release] [PPCR Website]