Pacific climate change portal on center stage in Sendai

Pacific climate change portal on center stage in Sendai, Japan

15 March 2015, Sendai, Japan - Lessons learnt from the Pacific Climate Change Portal were shared at a ‘World Café Session’ on Information Knowledge Management on the edge of the Third UN World Disaster Risk Conference in Sendai, Japan.

It was before the Information and Knowledge Management for Disaster Risk Reduction Community that the foundation and birth of the Pacific climate change portal was explained.

“In our region we found that there was just too much climate change information, coming from all areas. Our member countries requested a centralised hub where they could find accurate climate change information regarding and relevant to our Pacific that is managed well and easily accessible,” said Ms. Tagaloa Cooper-Halo, climate change coordination adviser of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

The Pacific Climate Change Portal was developed in consultation with SPREP’s Pacific island members and in partnership with key regional organisations.

“This collaboration is manifested in an advisory committee and technical committee that continue to oversee and guide the development and improvement of the Pacific Climate Change Portal. This partnership has assisted to build Pacific island capacity so our countries were able to upload their own information and resources under their country page to the portal, making it what it is today.”

The second Information and Knowledge Management for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation workshop was to develop capacity, share experiences and promote and implement the guiding principles for information knowledge management practice in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation towards the post 2015 DRR framework and beyond.

It was also an opportunity for the international network of Information and Knowledge Management experts to learn about the challenges and highlights faced by the Pacific climate change portal to help enhance their own work across the globe.

Questions and comments raised from the audience commended the portal for its achievements thus far and wanted to learn more as to how it is monitored and evaluated to ensure success.

“We are fortunate in that we have a biannual regional event that brings together the climate change community of practice. It is there at our Pacific Climate Change Roundtable (PCCR) that we share updates of the portal’s progress and hear from our members as to how they would like it to improve. In addition, a group of stakeholders are coordinated under the auspices of the PCCR called the Information and Knowledge Management working group who provide valuable input to support the Portal,” explained Cooper-Halo.

SPREP works closely with Griffith University who implement the Pacific Climate Change Information Management Project (iCLIM) with funding provided by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The iCLIM aims to ensure that climate change data and information developed throughout the Pacific Region is effectively managed, discoverable, accessible and reusable will support both regional bodies and national governments to undertake more effective climate change adaptation and resilience planning.

The Pacific Climate Change Portal was made live following a range of consultations and discussions after the request for a portal was made at the 2008 PCCR in Samoa. It features a range of climate change news, resources as well as country profiles from the Pacific islands.

To visit and use the Pacific climate change portal – www.pacificclimatechange.net

The Information and Knowledge Management for Disaster Risk Reduction (IKM4DRR) network is a multi-stakeholder group that helps enable and sustains informed decision-making for managing disaster risk and is essential for coordinated action.

After a range of ‘on-line’ meetings the community came together in the first workshop in May 2013 at the 2014 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction.

The workshop in Sendai, Japan was the second workshop of the community, also featured at the ‘World Café session’ included the Pacific Disaster Network of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community

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For more information on the Pacific Climate Change Portal please email Ms. Tagaloa Cooper–Halo attagaloac@sprep.org

ENDS…

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