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The Pacific Climate Change Roundtable 2017 was made possible with the collaborative support, coordination and financial assistance of the following key partners: · Federal Republic of Germany Foreign Office · Government of Australia · CSIRO · The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) The success of the PCCR belongs with the participants which represented Pacific island government focal points, national and sub-national government representatives, key stakeholders including civil society, non-government organisations, private sector and those integrated across cross-cutting sectors involved in climate change and resilient development in the region. The 2017 PCCR will be the last such meeting in its current format and will be succeeded in 2018 by the Pacific Resilience Meeting. Acknowledgment of the Government of Switzerland is duly noted for its past generous support towards the PCCR from 2008 to 2015.

The FRDP and PRP have an inclusive approach and are committed to working through a collective effort, linking climate change and disaster risk management. The FRDP and PRP also represent a risk informed approach to development guided by the principles of the Framework for Pacific Regionalism. The role of the proposed Taskforce is particularly important and will be supported by a support unit and technical working groups. The challenge is translating the FRDP into practical actions and resource mobilisation. As espoused in the FRDP inclusivity is important, however large groups can be hard to operate and the challenge ahead is how stakeholders move together for practical actions that benefit the region. The key messages are integration of the two communities of practice; and mainstreaming community based disaster risk management. On implementation it was acknowledged that no agency can do the work alone and must involve different stakeholders and their respective strengths.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) through its Pacific sub-regional office are joining forces to provide support to Pacific delegates to the international UN Oceans Conference.

A spokesperson from the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme says the Paris Agreement represents a great first step in the global commitment to addressing climate change. However, SPREP's Dr Tommy Moore says there is still a lot more that needs to be done to achieve that goal. Last year's Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation came into effect on Friday 4 November. It aims to arrest the global economy's addiction to fossil fuels and limit a rise in average world temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrial times. Dr Moore spoke with Dominic Godfrey about how Pacific countries can continue to lobby for change using their united voice.

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.

In the Cook Islands, the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) project focuses on coastal zone management on Mangaia Island. The project is helping to ‘climate-proof’ coastal development, and to develop an integrated coastal management policy and plan for Mangaia

The Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change (PACC) programme is the largest climate change adaptation initiative in the Pacific region, with projects in 14 countries and territories. PACC has three main areas of activity: practical demonstrations of adaptation measures; driving the mainstreaming of climate risks into national development planning and activities; and sharing knowledge in order to build adaptive capacity. The goal of the programme is to reduce vulnerability and to increase adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change in three key climate-sensitive development sectors: coastal zone management, food security and food production, and water resources management. The programme began in 2009 and is scheduled to end in December 2014.