PACC Demonstration Guide: Buidling resilience to climate change in lowland farming communities in Fiji. PACC Technical Report 17

Abstract

In Fiji, the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project focused on food security, with a goal ‘to contribute to reducing vulnerability and increasing adaptive capacity to adverse effects of climate change in the food sector of Fiji’. More specifically, the project aimed to enhance and, where necessary, to develop new drainage design features for drainage networks and infrastructure at two pilot sites in lowland farming areas of Fiji. Baseline information and expert opinion collected during the consultation stage indicated that the current infrastructure of drainage networks was unlikely to cope with increased water flow as a result of projected changes in rainfall regimes and sea level (both through sea level rise and storm surge). As a result there would be an increase in the damage caused by prolonged flooding of cropland as well as adverse effects on the livelihoods of lowland farmers. The project also evaluated the use of climate-resilient crop varieties as a tool with which to manage conditions caused by climate change, such as waterlogging.