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Climate Impacts and Lessons Learned in RMI, FSM, and Palau

Explore the impacts of drought, wildfires, and water scarcity in RMI, FSM, and Palau due to El Niño events. Learn from successful cases, communication strategies, and climate information needs.

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Climate Impacts and Lessons Learned in RMI, FSM, and Palau

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  1. Drought and Extreme Tides in RMI and FSM

  2. Impacts-Palau • Water Resources/Droughts – Palau experienced 9 month drought during ’97/’98 El Niño • Taro patches dried up/crop failure (Taro loss est. at $0.74 million) • Fires become major hazard (20% of Palau’s forest, savannah, and agricultural lands destroyed)

  3. ENSO Impacts • Water rationing in Majuro—seven hours of water every 15 days in February 1998 • Crop losses in FSM, RMI, CNMI • Job losses in Fishing in FSM • Wildfires in FSM, Guam, Hawaii • Environmental Impacts—streams drying up, wild fires, coral bleaching

  4. PEAC Lessons Learned • Number of success stories: • Water resources with direct benefits to communities and secondary benefits to industry (e.g., tuna canneries in American Samoa) • Power and utilities • Emergency management • Early & continuous collaboration/partnership with users key • Critical role of education, outreach & dialogue: • Raising awareness and understanding • Identifying impacts and exploring solutions • Building trust and credibility Communication, communication, communication

  5. PEAC Lessons Learned • Users interested in climate information on a variety of timescales; interactions and feedbacks important • Encountered a number of scientific, technical and institutional constraints, e.g.,: • Communications infrastructure • Forecast skill varies with season, place and parameter • Political and institutional boundaries – users and providers • Limited understanding of consequences, vulnerability and options for risk management • Technical terminology and language considerations • “Getting the message right”

  6. PEAC Lessons Learned • Importance of setting projections of future conditions in context: • Problem to be addressed • Historical events, patterns and trends • Traditional knowledge and practices • Nature & consequences of any event depend on where you sit • Building trust & credibility a long-term endeavor: • Eyeball-to-eyeball contact • Maintaining awareness between events • Accommodating relative successes & failures (e.g., 2001-2002 forecast)

  7. General Guidelines for the Future • Recognize climate impacts are set in a multi-stress context: • Start with the problem; understand decision-making context • Additional users may require more integrated products • Embed climate information programs in context of broader development, poverty reduction environmental goals • Create and sustain a flexible/adaptable PEAC

  8. Key Recommendations • Strengthen collaboration with users: • Maintain ties to core users • Explore new sectors/user communities (health, coastal/marine resources, agriculture, forestry, land-use planning, economic development, tourism) • Review issues, problem definition and info. needs and evaluate products • Enhance mechanisms for feedback

  9. Key Recommendations • Strengthen and expand critical partnerships: • Users • National meteorological and hydrological services • WMO RA-V Regional Climate Center and other regional partners (e.g., SPREP, SOPAC, PI-GCOS) • Local-level expertise • Mission agencies • Local boundary organizations and information brokers (intermediaries) – including educators, media, … • Expand (formal & informal) education opportunities

  10. Key Recommendations • Strengthen/enhance PEAC product line: • Mechanisms for regular feedback and revision • Add verification and monthly updates of conditions • Update rainfall atlas; national & local climatologies • Partnerships for locally-tailored products • Basic information on climate & response options, including economic analyses (impacts & adaptation) • Address data and communications issues • Explore new technology (e.g., data visualization tools)

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