5 October 2017: Meetings on climate change and disaster risk management (DRM) in the Pacific discussed reducing the number of people directly affected by disasters under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), with a particular focus on housing and livelihoods. The UNFCCC Secretariat issued a number of documents in preparation for the UN Climate Change Conference in November.

The joint meetings of the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable and the Pacific Platform for DRM convened within the framework of the Pacific Resilience Week under the theme ‘Home Safe Home’ in Suva, Fiji, from 4-5 October 2017, a week ahead of the International Day for Disaster Reduction. Co-organized by the UN Office for DRR (UNISDR), the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the meetings culminated in a statement supporting implementation of the Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific: An Integrated Approach to Address Climate Change and DRM 2017-2030 (FRDP) through the Pacific Resilience Partnership, endorsed by the region’s leaders for an initial period of two years at the 48th Pacific Islands Forum in September 2017.

The Pacific Climate Change Centre will serve as the Pacific Meteorological Council’s primary training and partnership provider for the region, and as the virtual hub for the WMO Regional Climate Centre, focusing on forecasting, climate services and capacity building.

In their statement, Pacific leaders record the importance of, inter alia: inclusive approaches to mainstreaming disaster and climate-related risk into planning, budgetary and decision-making processes; promoting public-private partnerships at all levels; supporting meteorological services, data management, appropriate technologies and multi-hazard early warning systems; and building capacity to address loss and damage in the region. [Statement of the Joint Meeting of the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable and the Pacific Platform for DRM] [UNISDR Press Release on Pacific Leaders’ Statement] [UNISDR Press Release on the Pacific Tackling Disaster and Climate Risk] [UNISDR Press Release on the Opening of the Pacific Climate Change Roundtable and Disaster Management Platform] [SPREP Press Release] [FRDP] [Pacific Resilience Week Programme] [Joint Pacific Platform for DRM and Pacific Climate Change Roundtable Agenda]

The Pacific Climate Change Roundtable announced a center of excellence for Pacific climate change action to be based in Apia, Samoa, at the campus of the SPREP Secretariat. The Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) will serve as the Pacific Meteorological Council’s primary training and partnership provider for the region, and as the virtual hub for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Regional Climate Centre (RCC), focusing on forecasting, climate services and capacity building. [SPREP Press Release]

In preparation for the 23rd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 23) to the UNFCCC, the Secretariat issued: a report of the 32nd meeting of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Expert Group (LEG) (FCCC/SBI/2017/14); a report of the Adaptation Committee (AC) (FCCC/SB/2017/2); and a technical paper on adaptation-related information included in nationally determined contributions (NDCs), national adaptation plans (NAPs) and recent national communications (FCCC/TP/2017/7). [Report of the 32nd Meeting of the LEG] [Report of the AC] [Adaptation-related Information Included in NDCs, NAPs and Recent National Communications]

The Secretariat also released recommendations of the AC, the LEG and the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF), prepared in response to the COP requests: for the AC and the LEG to jointly develop modalities to recognize the adaptation efforts of developing countries; and, together with the SCF and other relevant institutions, to develop methodologies on taking the necessary steps to facilitate the mobilization of support for adaptation in developing countries in the context of the limit to global average temperature increase reflected in the Paris Agreement on climate change, and to review the adequacy and effectiveness of adaptation and support (FCCC/SB/2017/2/Add.1−FCCC/SBI/2017/14/Add.1). [Recommendations of the AC and the LEG for Addressing Decision 1/CP.21, Paragraph 41, and, in Collaboration with the SCF, Decision 1/CP.21, Paragraph 45]

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