ALM UNDP

Summary:

Although much has been accomplished in Samoa in disaster risk management during the past 20 years, communities in Samoa are still facing increasing and additional challenges in terms of addressing climate-related disaster risk. There is now a need to strengthen the capacity of Samoan communities to build further resilience to the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events, especially in rural communities.

The project will pursue responses that are robust to a range of observed and anticipated climate change impacts integrated with no-regret conservation and sustainable forestry measures to enhance resilience of forest ecosystems, the communities that depend on them, in Samoa. It will bridge top-down and bottom-up approaches through linking the implementation of policy changes with on-the-ground adaptation measures in affected rural areas, adjacent to protected forest areas, with the active involvement of local communities. It will build adaptive capacity in public administrations and rural communities, in order to enhance the resilience of forest ecosystems and rural livelihoods, that depend on forest ecosystem services.

The project is expected to support the the integration of climate risk and resilience into relevant agroforestry and forestry policies and practices, including environmental and meteorological data to better respond to current and anticipated climate change impacts in Samoan rural communities depending on forestry resources for their livelihoods. The policy and management guidelines and recommendations to be developed will provide a knowledge basis for the application of enhanced forestry techniques under a range of anticipated climate change scenarios. The project will facilitate the testing and implementaiton of these guidelines in selected demonstraion areas and pilot communites, combining scientific techniques (such as climate change projections, GIS mapping and remote sensing) with grassroots participation and community-based appraisal of climatic hazards. Based on these capabilities, the target communities will develop communal risk reduction plans as part of their overall forest management plans. Small-scale adaptation measures will, therefore, be prioritized to effectively reduce the risk of rapid- and slow-onset climate-induced impacts.

The project seeks to enhance institutional capacities of relevant line Ministries and their specialized departments, including their district and local level representatives and field staff. Institutional capacities will be strenghtened to integrate climate resilience into sectoral policies and operational plans, as well as to deliver technical tasks related to forestry management and monitoring. The policy changes will aim at supporting an enabling environment for the implementation of on-the-ground demonstration measures, therefore strenghtening institutional structures to address climate risk in the longer term.

Image(s):