Field Trip on Awane Marine Park

photo: Liza S. Simpson

On the second day of the Youth to Youth summer camp, we met with 29 students from Lelu. Carlos gave a lecture about Lelu's proposed marine protected area, Awane Marine Park. Students learned that protected areas reduce the vulnerability to the negative effects of climate change. After the lecture about the importance of the protected area, students were taken for a field trip. We taught the students about the flora and fauna found  in the area.

Youth to Youth Sumer Program

During the week of June 25-29, we participate of KCSO's Youth to Youth Summer program. The FSM PACC project joined KCSO, YELA, KIRMA and DREA in the awareness program for 5, 6 & 7th grade students during summer vacation. One hundred five students from all municipalities participated on the first day. This year theme is Kosrae's Protected Areas. On the fist day, FSMPACC's summer intern, Liza Abraham, gave  a lecture, "Protected Areas and Climate Change".  The rest of the week, we are visiting the proposed protected areas in each village with the students of that municipality.

Loss and Damage workshop and Project

 FSMPACC Project Coordinator, Mr. Simpson Abraham, attended a Loss and Damage workshop in Manila, Phillipines during May 15 - 19.
  The workshop was organized by the United Nations University in Bonn, Germany. Loss and damage is a new concept in climate change research and are the negative effects of climate variability and change that households and communities have not been able to cope with or adapt to.
  A survey of 400 households in Kosrae will begin in July  for a month. These interviews will assess how coastal erosion causes losses and damage among people living in the coastal zone of Kosrae. This study will contribute to a better understanding of what combinations of policies can decrease loss and damage and increase resilience in small island states.
  More information on this project will be posted when the survey begins.

Intern working with us.

Miss Liza S. Abraham is an intern with the FSM PACC project. She is a marine science student in the College of Micronesia National Campus at Pohnpei. She wants to continue studies on her field of studies. She will be working with us for two months. She has the opportunity to gather some skills at our office. Yesterday she was involved in a Question and Answer radio program about the World Environmental Day. We are glad to have her with us, not many kosraean women pursue careers in the environment.

PACC project assistant, Carlos Cianchini, attended a 3D modeling workshop in Honiara, Solomon Islands during the week of May 21-25.  "Participatory Mapping and Community Empowerment for Climate Change Adaptation Planning and Advocacy" train us to prepare three dimension maps to gather local knowledge from the community members to be use in decision making. The workshop was organized by the UNDP ( United Nations Development Program), TNC (The Nature Conservancy) and CTA (The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) . Carlos presented the PACC project in Kosrae to the workshop participants. High School students prepared a model of Naro area ( Guadalcanal Is.) with their resources and infrastructure. We found that these model are a great tool for gather traditional information of the peoples resources. The community can plan infrastructure needed and avoid projects that would affect their homes and livelihood. We plan to build our own model of the pilot project to see future land use patterns. Other maps could be made for communities who want to set aside protected areas, so they can have their input taken in account. We want to thank Mr. Giacomo Rambaldi and his team for the training. Thanks also for UNDP and the PACC Project for the invitation to assist this workshop.

2008 wave damage to coastal areas

During December 2008 king tides, bad weather produced big waves that affected the coastal infrastructure.

  The main road, which is in the coastal area gets a lot of debris from the beach.

Some houses were affected by the big waves.

Photos: KIRMA

                       

Awareness community visits

                                                         Tafunsak senior citizens.

                                            Malem senior citizens sharing their knowledge.

Awareness Program

Kosrae State has a team of climate change educators. It's interdisciplinary compositon includes environmental educators on  marine ecology, invasive species, terrestrial ecosystems, infrastructure, educators, etc.  They come from the government, non government organizations and community based organizations. FSMPACC is also represented in the group. We have begun conducting community visits to all the villages, focusing first on the senior citizens. We target this group to gather information about the climate before and the changes they have noticed. With this valuable information from our elders, we can share it with younger generations.

Technical Support

To better understand Kosrae's climate, we installed meteorological instruments. These equipments records tide levels, rainfall and solar radiation data that is transmitted via satellite to the FSM National Weather Service in Pohnpei and to the National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd. in New Zealand for analysis.

 To make Okat coastal road more resilient and less vunerable to sea level rise, the road is being raised between one to two feet ( 30-60 cm.) and the twelve inches (30 cm.) culverts are replaced for 36 inches (90cm) diameter pipes.

Kosrae State is the first country in Oceania to include climate change adaptation measures into future development activities in a law. Here is the first page of  Kosrae State Law 10-2, 2011

The implementing Agencies of the PACC project are: United Nations Development Program, UNDP; Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environmental Programme,SPREP; The Government of the Federated States of Micronesia and funded by the Global Environment Facility, GEF. In Kosrae, the Project Management Unit is Kosrae Island Resources Management Authority and the implementing office is the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

FSM PACC Project Coordinator

                                                              Mr. Simpson Abraham

" Piloting Climate Change Adaptation in Road Infrastructure in the Coastal Zone in Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia". This project will increase resilience of the socio-economic infrastructure and the adaptive capacity of coastal communities to the negative impacts of sea level rise. 80% of the population and infrastructure is located in the coastal zone.

FSM PACC Definition and Goal

 Federated States of Micronesia's Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change. Our goal is to reduce vulnerability and increase adaptive capacity to the adverse effects of climate change in the coastal zone management sector.