Enhancing 'whole-of-islands' approach to strengthen community resilience to climate and disaster risks in Kiribati
The Republic of Kiribati is an island state with 33 low-lying and narrow atolls dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometres of the Central Pacific Ocean. The country has a population of approximately 110,000 people. Climate change and climate-induced disasters are projected to exacerbate the vulnerability of the i-Kiribati people by causing more frequent inundations leading to coastal infrastructure damage and exacerbating the already problematic acess to clean water and food.
Despite an existing strong policy framework and previous efforts, several barriers exist that prevent Kiribati from achieving its adaptation objectives. This project will therefore address a number of underlying institutional and technical constraints to increase community resilience to the impacts of climate change, climate variability and disasters through four inter-related components:
- National and sectoral policies strengthened through enhanced institutions and knowledge
- Island level climate change resilient planning and institutional capacity development in 5 pilot islands
- Wol-implementation of water, food security and infrastructure adaptation measures
- Enhanced knowledge management and communication strategies
The project targets to deliver adaptation benefits to 17,500 people of which 49% are women at the five pilot sites through implementation of practices and technologies for improved food security, water security and coastal management.