Pacific Conference of Churches pilot climate change project

Moana Ainu'u - Niue Broadcasting Corporation

Apia, Samoa - The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) piloted a disaster risk reduction approach called Climate Intervene and Disaster Risk to assist its church communities to become proactive in addressing the changes in their physical environment.

This project introduced in five countries in the Pacific – Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu is aimed at empowering Pacific People to rethink their strategies, and adopt realistic adaptation and risk reduction methods.

Reverend Ikani Taliai Tolu

“Through its methodology, the PCC employs the notion that climate impact and risk assessment is the first step at identification of areas threatened by disasters especially the vulnerable to climate change,” said Reverend Ikani Taliai Tolu, during a presentation at the Lessons Learnt for Future Action conference in Samoa.

 

His belief is that a hazard only becomes a disaster when the community is not able to cope with it.

“The findings from the five pilot countries demonstrated to us that although communities adaptation strategies may be varied and depend on local context, social networks play a pivotal role in accessing appropriate climate knowledge and resources”.

A tailor made plan for communities or individual needs must find its place and the justification will become apparent when risk reduction measures are recognised.

The Pacific Conference of Churches has one hundred different religious denomination members from 18 countries, one of the biggest religious establishments of the region. It views climate change as an injustice that continues to affect the most vulnerable.

“As we may all appreciate climate change is an issue of justice, because those who have least contributed to this global problem, and have the least capacity to adapt, stand to lose the most, and in certain cases lose entire island communities from rising sea levels that have been aggravated further by frequent and stronger storm surface”.

Faced with unprovoked injustices, people of the pacific must adjust and continue the road of adaptation, he said.