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Small island developing states in the tropical Pacific are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate variability, extremes and change including loss and damage to infrastructure and natural assets from climate related natural disasters and associated threats to health and wellbeing of the population.

The Pacific region is home to 22 island states, all of which are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and natural disaster events.

The region is under an El Niño advisory, and weather patterns were unambiguously in a climate state of ElNiño during the quarter.

The region is under El Niño Advisory and weather patterns continued to resemble El Niño conditions during the quarter.

Below normal rainfall fell over most of Hawaii the FSM, the Marshall Islands, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. The region is under and El Niño advisory and weather patterns were in a climate state of El Niño during the quarter .

The region is under and El Niño advisory, and weather patterns were unambiguously in a climate state of El Niño during the quarter.

The meeting was opened by the deputy director general of SPREP, Mr. Kosi Latu and the FAO subregional coordinator for the Pacific, Mr. Gavin Wall. In their remarks, both touched upon the critical challenge posed by climate change to the Pacific nations; the impact on agriculture and thus food security; and the need to work in partnership to ensure that strong national meteorological services provide climate information that is actioned by the agriculture sector, at all levels.

The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) collaborated with implementing partner SPREP to host a five day ‘Writeshop’ (workshop) in Fiji in 2011. The Writeshop was funded by the UNITAR Climate Change Capacity and Development (C3D+) Support programme. The objective/outcomes of the Writeshop were twofold: 1. To build capacity of young Pacific country scholars, practitioners and policymakers to write quality publishable papers in the area of climate change, particularly on climate change adaptation and the linkages to disaster risk reduction. 2. To produce quality publishable papers ready for peer-review and facilitate the publication of peer-reviewed articles in academic journals to inform the policy making process on climate change. This Writeshop evaluation was informed by desktop research, an online survey and interviews with some key stakeholders. The evaluation was guided by a set of evaluation questions. · Were approximately 16 quality publishable papers published in academic journals as a result of the Writeshop? · What factors have contributed to achieving or not achieving intended outputs and outcomes of the C3D+ project? · What progress toward the outcomes has been made by the C3D+ project? Has the C3D+ partnership between UNITAR and SPREP been appropriate and effective? · To what extent have the C3D+ project outputs and assistance contributed to outcomes of the PACC programme?

PacWaste (Pacific Hazardous Waste) is a four year (2013-2017), 7.85 million, project funded by the European Union and implemented by Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to improve regional hazardous waste management in 14 Pacific island countries plus Timor Leste, in the priority areas of healthcare waste, asbestos, E-waste and integrated atoll solid waste management. Asbestos-containing wastes and materials are a major issue for many Pacific Island countries with a history of use of asbestos-containing building materials in construction. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans and inhalation of asbestos fibres that have become airborne can cause serious lung disease or cancer.

PacWaste (Pacific Hazardous Waste) is a four year (2013-2017), 7.85 million, project funded by the European Union and implemented by Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) to improve regional hazardous waste management in 14 Pacific island countries plus Timor Leste, in the priority areas of healthcare waste, asbestos, E-waste and integrated atoll solid waste management. Asbestos-containing wastes and materials are a major issue for many Pacific Island countries with a history of use of asbestos-containing building materials in construction. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans and inhalation of asbestos fibres that have become airborne can cause serious lung disease or cancer.