Climate Change presentation to Lelu's Elementary School.

On February 20, FSM PACC Project educator, Mr. Carlos Cianchini, gave a presentation on the importance of protected areas to be less vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. Mrs. Ruthey M. Luckymis, from KIRMA, also gave a presentation on impacts and adaptation to climate change. Six and seventh grade students from Lelu Elementary School attended the presentation. This the second visit to Lelu ES during this month to prepare the students for the art contest on Climate Change impacts.

 

Mr. Carlos Cianchini

 

Mrs. Ruthey M. Luckymis from KIRMA.

Art and Song Contest

The FSM PACC Project has open two contests for the people of Kosrae. An art contest for 6th and 7th grade students, and a song contest for the general public The theme for both contests is "Climate Change Impacts on Kosrae". We aanounced these contests by the local radio station and by the use of flyers distributed around the island. The date line for the art and song submissions was March 3.

A total of seven songs and 58 drawings were submitted. the winners will be presented during the FSM Environmental Summit to be held in Kosrae next week. Mrs Ruthey M. Luckymis from KIRMA, help us with the contest announcement and winners screening.

 

Example of one of the 6th graders drawing.

Climate Change Resilience Programme Gets Under Way in the Region | Climate Change

Climate Change Resilience Programme Gets Under Way in the Region | Climate Change

News release from SPREP. Press link to read news about the Climate Change Resilience Programme.http://www.sprep.org/climate-change/climate-change-resilience-programme-gets-under-way-in-the-region

Climate Change, Tides and Waves presentation to 7th Graders

Last Friday, FSM PACC Awarweness Coordinator, Carlos J. Cianchini; gave a presentation on Climate Change, Tides and Waves. Thirty six, 7th grade students from Lelu Elementary School were present during the presentation. They learn about the tides, our meteorological equipment, coastal erosion, waves and climate change. Part of the presentation was about the expected raise in sea level and examples in their village were given and how to adapt to those changes. They were told to ask their elders about changes they have notice thru time.

Understanding Coastal Change Toolkit Development Workshop

A toolkit for teaching coastal erosion is been prepared by the Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT), the Pacific Islands Managed and Protected Area Community (PIMPAC) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). These are the same organizations that prepared the "Adapting to a Changing Climate" Flipchart and Toolkit. This workshop is bringing together coastal experts to work with community members, Government and Non-Government Organizations to share information and experiences with coastal erosion issues. The outcome of these workshops is the development of a toolkit for coastal erosion awareness. The team of coastal experts and facilitators met previously in Palau and during this week, they met in Kosrae.

Workshop participants preparing a map about the features of a shoreline and the impacts of erosion and accretion.

Coastal engineers, Mr. Doug Ramsay from NIWA and Dr. Arthur Webb from SOPAC, were the principal consultants.  FSM PACC joined other Government and NGO's  to learn and share coastal erosion issues on Kosrae. There is a need to educate the people about what causes coastal erosion and what is needed to make us less vulnerable to its negative effects. Coastal erosion has been addressed by engineering projects, which are temporary solutions, that can cause damage in nearby areas. With tis toolkit on Coastal erosion, Government Officials, Utilities Companies and the general public will receive the information required for protecting our coastline, the people and the infrastructure.

The workshop was held the last week of January, with three days of meetings and one afternoon of field trip at one of the islands threatened coastline at Malem Municipality.  Funds for the workshop were provided by MCT, PIMPAC, TNC and the Coping with Climate Change in the Pacific Region Program from the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GIZ-CCPIR).

Field trip to Malem coast

 

Related information on blog posted on May 8, 2013. "Coastal Engineer Updates the Kosrae Shoreline Management Plan of 2000".

Extreme El Niños Could Hit Twice As Often - Yahoo News

Extreme El Niños Could Hit Twice As Often - Yahoo Newshttp://news.yahoo.com/extreme-el-ni-os-could-hit-twice-often-180222387.html?soc_src=copy

Merging of Kosrae Disaster Coordination Office and FSM PACC

PACC PMU is actively involved in the revision of the draft Kosrae disaster management plan. The impacts of climate change variability, now proven as it leads to different catastrophe and affecting the livelihood of the people. This plan was formulated few years back but still has some gaps that needed to be incorporated. The current substance of the report does not include climate change and risk reduction, hence the revision now inclusive of climate change and disaster risk as required by Kosrae state law 10-2 (CC Act 2011). As a result of the State Law 10-2 (CC Legislation), Governor Jackson executed an MOU merging Kosrae Disaster  Coordination Office (DCO) and FSM PACC as one office to be consistent to the CC legislation. This is also timely for  enactment of the FSM national climate change policy and disaster risk reduction passed by FSM congress in September 2013.

Both Offices share the new Disaster Coordination building in Tofol, Kosrae since December 9th.