PACC Review meeting concludes on a high note

PACC Review meeting concludes on a high note

8/12/2011

12 August, Port Vila, Vanuatu - The second annual review meeting for the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) Project came to a conclusion today at the Lelagon Hotel, Port Vila Vanuatu.

The week long Multipartite Review Meeting brought together 13 of the PACC member countries to review the progress of the PACC project and discuss policy technical and operational issues and recommendations for the decision of the participants.

Present at the meeting were the respective National Coordinators, Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the implementing agencies, and other key partners.

There was exchange of experience and lessons learnt for the policy and pilot demonstration implementation processes across countries with regional partners, and the opportunity to provide technical training and adaptation implementation and knowledge management for the national coordinators and project staff.

UNDP Samoa Resident Representative and MPR Chair, Nileema Noble said, “This project is an important endeavour with SPREP and UNDP and we are here to work with the countries, to serve the countries of the region and for countries to hold us accountable for actions, for support.”

SPREP PACC Project Manager Taito Nakalevu thanked all participants, partners and resource personnel present at the meeting and acknowledged their efforts in making the 2nd MPR a successful one.

He added, “The MPR was conducted in excellent pursuit and collaboration and we have a clear direction on how we will take the project from here, we have before us a lot of substantive work and we need to continue to scale up.”

“On behalf of the MPR members we endorse the outcomes and the summary review of the second MPR.”

This meeting has also welcomed the new members to the board for which SPREP and UNDP are permanent members. Polynesia will be represented by Tonga, Micronesia is now represented by Nauru and Papua New Guinea represents Melanesia. The representative to the board on behalf of the Council of the Regional Organisations of the Pacific is yet to be nominated.

“We will work to make sure your voice is heard,” said Mr. Russ Kun of Nauru, his sentiments were echoed by his fellow board members that will represent the 13 Pacific island countries.

At the closing of the meeting the Tuvalu National Coordinator Loia Tausi, on behalf of the member countries, remarked “Our sincere thanks and gratitude to the chair of MPR to be able to navigate the meeting throughout the week, the meeting has been a useful and challenging one.”

“We are really glad to see we have come out with constructive outcomes and your help to improve our work as a PACC team. This MPR has encouraged everyone to implement at a pace that is as expected and we promise to come on board with a positive delivery in the next MPR.”

The 3rd MPR is endorsed to be held in Nauru mid 2012.

The PACC project is a 13 million dollar regional project that helps coordinate national ‘on the ground’ activities in 13 island countries to help them adapt to climate change in three main areas – food security and production, coastal management and water resources management.

The regional PACC project is implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as an implementing partner. It is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

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