Project News

The training on "Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction through Structural Approaches" concluded on 30 March 2021. This is the first training program delivered through the newly launched e-learning platform of the Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC). A total of 54 participants from 13 countries and territory, including American Samoa, Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga, and Vanuatu, participated in this training program.

The training program aimed to strengthen participants' capacity to implement actions towards advancing the structural approach for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction such as building codes, civil engineered structures, retrofitting, and sea dikes. It was delivered in partnership with Dr. Jane Romero, the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF).

Ms. Ofa Ma'asi-Kaisamy, Manager of the PCCC emphasized that "the Pacific countries and territories anticipate impacts of climate change including inundation and destruction of human settlements, and therefore actions are urgently needed. The structural approach is recognized as the tangible actions to reduce disaster risks and protect human lives and important assets such as houses and agricultural lands."

The training was comprised of 3 modules. Module 1 provided the projected climate change and climate impacts on structures and methodologies to assess the vulnerability of structures. Module 2 focused on detailed technical and policy options of buildings and coastal structures.

Module 3 was group work, and participants developed problem trees and objective trees based on knowledge provided in Module 1 and 2, and summarized into a logical framework, including outcomes, outputs, activities, and indicators as the core contents of a climate change project. participant evaluated the group work, as "The concept of discussion is very interesting, as participants are allowed to share their experiences and learn from others. I like to read the discussions from other countries as I can learn some information from them. Thank you for creating such an effective way to engage with the participants."

The Project plans to deliver additional three training programs on Ecosystem, Agriculture and Fisheries (Food), and Health in 2021.

virtual session of 5th training program (March 2021)