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This publication is the result of the first phase of a 2-year project 'Adapting to climate change in eastern New Zealand' funded by: MAF Sustainable Farming Fund, AGMARDT, Climate Change Office/Ministry for the Environment, Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Environment Bay of Plenty, Environment Cantebury, and Merino NZ Inc.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are areas of the ocean set aside for long-term conservation aims.| MPAs support climate change adaptation and mitigation while providing other ecosystem services.| Currently 6.35% of the ocean is protected, but only just over 1.89% is covered by exclusively no-take MPAs.| Most existing MPAs do not have enough human and financial resources to properly implement conservation and management measures.| Increased political commitments can help boost the governance of and resources available to MPAs.

National SoE Reports give information about environmental and social conditions, trends and pressures for the country, and the surrounding seas. The SoE reporting process forms the basis for effective environmental and sustainable development planning by examining the current condition of environmental indicators influenced by national, regional, and global pressures. The report uses state and trend indicators to evaluate how these “state” conditions impact not only the environment, but also the economy and the livelihoods of a country’s citizens. The term “environment” is used holistically to include biophysical, social, and economic indicators. An SoE Report should be completed every five years.

Increasingly frequent severe coral bleaching is among the greatest threats to coral reefs posed by climate change. Global climate models (GCMs) project great spatial variation in the timing of annual severe bleaching (ASB) conditions; a point at which reefs are certain to change and recovery will be limited. However, previous model-resolution projections (approximately 1x1°) are too coarse to inform reef management planning (recognized, for example, in SAMOA Pathways, paragraph 44b). To meet the need for higher-resolution projections, the first objective of this report is to present statistically downscaled projections (4-km resolution) for all the world’s coral reefs using the newest generation of IPCC climate models (CMIP5). Results are reported by country and territory, grouped in bioregions based on the 10 UNEP Regional Seas programmes with coral reefs (also including countries or territories in or near the Regional Sea area but not participating in the Regional Sea).

Summary of 48th PIFS Leaders Meeting in Apia, Samoa

Samoa is home to abundant plant life including indigenous species and some foreign introduced plant species. A majority of the foreign plants were introduced to Samoa in the pre-independence era through arrival of the early missionaries, Germans and Japanese, for various purposes from medicinal use to construction. These plants can be found across all the four islands; Upolu, Savai’i, Manono and Apolima. As part of the EU-GIZ Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy (ACSE) programme, a component of the Energy Bill and Sustainable Bioenergy, Samoa project focuses on biomass resource assessments at the Samoa Trust Estates Corporation (STEC) Plantation at Mulifanua, Upolu. Through fieldwork for biomass resource assessments at the non-leased land areas within the STEC Mulifanua plantation, eight common plants were identified and further scientific analysis on each was conducted by the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS). SROS laboratory tests took place over a period of 14 days using the Quality Management System implemented by SROS and which also meets the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, ISO/IEC 17025 (2005). Thus, this publication provides a brief description of these plants as well as some data on moisture content and energy content under different conditions.

Growinginterestintraditionalknowledge(TK),particularlyinrelationtothepredictionofweatherorclimate extremes, raises issues concerning the appropriate storage and management of the information collected. The Traditional Knowledge Database (TK Database) for the storage and use of TK associated with weather and climate prediction in the Paci c was designed with the following principles in mind: (1) preservation of the knowledge, maintaining cultural context wherever possible; (2) respect for intellectual property and cultural sensitivities around data sharing and use; (3) appropriate system design, accounting for ongoing costs of system maintenance and often intermittent Internet access; and (4) moving beyond data preservation to ensure continued use and growth of the TK. The TK Database was successfully deployed to four countries in the south Paci c and is regularly used by their national meteorological services, and partner organizations, both to preserve TK related to weather and climate and as a tool to assist in monitoring the TK indicators. As the rst database of its kind, the TK Database lls a critical gap in the appropriate storage and application of TK and provides an important foundation for future developments.

In most countries, national meteorological services either generate or have access to seasonal climate forecasts.However,inanumberofregions,theuptakeoftheseforecastsbylocalcommunitiescanbelimited, with the locals instead relying on traditional knowledgeto make their climate forecasts.Both approachesto seasonal climate forecasting have bene ts, and the incorporation of traditional forecast methods into contemporaryforecastsystemscanleadtoforecaststhatarelocallyrelevantandbettertrustedbytheusers.This in turn could signi cantly improve the communication and application of climate information, especially to remote communities. A number of different methodologies have been proposed for combining these forecasts. Through considering the bene ts and limitations of each approach, practical recommendations are providedonselectingamethod,intheformofadecisionframework,thattakesintoconsiderationbothuser and provider needs. The framework comprises four main decision points: 1) consideration of the level of involvement of traditional-knowledge experts or the community that is required, 2) existing levels of traditional knowledge of climate forecasting and its level of cultural sensitivity, 3) the availability of long-term data—both traditional-knowledge and contemporary-forecast components, and 4) the level of resourcing available.Noonemethodissuitableforeveryoneandeverysituation;however,thedecisionframeworkhelps to select the most appropriate method for a given situation.

The landmark agreement reached in Paris in December, 2015 committed countries to ambitious actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen their resilience to the impacts associated with global climate change. The Climate Technology Centre and Network, the operative arm of the UNFCCC's Technology Mechanism, featured prominently in that text - and we have spent the months since COP21 working to realise the vision with which the Parties have entrusted us.

Powerpoint presentation on ESRAM in Port Vila, Vanuatu