Pacific RISA, a NOAA CAP/RISA team, convened a Sector-based Climate Services and Coordination Workshop in Koror, Palau from February 26 to March 1, 2024. The workshop was funded by the Green Climate Fund and hosted by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pacific RISA, and the University of Hawaii in partnership with the Palau Ministry of Finance Bureau of Budget and Planning, Palau Office of Climate Change, and the Palau Weather Service Office.
The goals of the workshop were the following: (1) To facilitate the development and delivery of two locally relevant and impact-driven climate products to support sector-based decision-making in Palau: Climate Early Warning System (CLEWS) tools for drought and health and a national ocean portal; and (2) To foster increased alignment and coordination of climate projects in Palau, including within the UNEP CIS-Pac5 as well as across other relevant project streams supported by NOAA and the State Department, such as the Local 2030 Islands Network. To this aim, technical and regional partners were invited to attend to support this objective and help to reduce redundancy and stakeholder fatigue by using this gathering as an opportunity to help align the many different climate initiatives currently underway in Palau. Two sessions were dedicated to partner presentations and discussion, as a means to support communication, coordination, and collaboration across projects and initiatives within Palau and to help to elevate the important messages that arise throughout the week.
Lisa Vaughan, Program Manager of NOAA’s Adaptation Sciences and Director of International Programs for CPO’s Climate and Societal Interactions Division, spoke at the event on NOAA research and partnerships on climate services, adaptation, and resilience in the Pacific Islands. This includes NOAA’s partnership with the Department of State through items such as the Island-Led Resilience 2030 (ILR2033) through the Local 2030 Islands Network and NOAA’s Blue Carbon Inventory Project.
The workshop topics and bulk of the sessions were designed to be country- and community-centric, relating to the impacts, concerns, ideas, and trends specific to Palau. The workshop was also designed to be a two-way exchange, to encourage information flow in both directions.
Participants included representatives and decision makers in Palau from sectors impacted by a rapidly changing climate, as well as other representatives from local, national, and regional agencies, institutions, and non-governmental organizations with an interest in understanding and predicting climate change, its impacts, and adapting to them. The opening day of the workshop set the stage for the week with high level opening remarks from President Whipps and Ambassador Ehrendreich and an overview of Palau’s national climate change goals.
For more information, contact Lisa Vaughan.
Image credit: Krista Jaspers
