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.
Each island state and nation has a unique history, culture, governance and environmental setting. There is also a high degree of commonality that makes a regional approach to assessment valuable . These include tropical insular environments and fluid, growing populatios and ocean dependent economies, climate change i,pacts and resource limitations importance to national security and a common urgency for effective ocean and coastal management.
There are no active ENSO advisories in effect. Sea-surface temperatures are above normal across much of the Pacific, with a small localized region of cold anomalies along the equartorial eastern Pacific.
The developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region are very diverse economically, politically, socially and culturally. Face similar development and environmental challenges related to poverty alleviation, sustainable economic development, increased urbanization and greater rural-urban migration, environmental degradation and the frequent incidence of natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
The region remains under an ElNiño watch and weather conditions were in more in-line with El Niño during the quarter. Sea-surface temperatures were generally near to above normal across the equatorial Pacific, with the warmest anomalies, exceeding 1.o deg
