Tag Archives: climate change

Global Climate efforts to be renewed at Pacific Summit

Residents stand by the site of their former village, Tebunginako, now inundated by the sea. Photo: Justin McManus, The Age.

Some of the world’s smallest nations will use a Pacific summit this week to push the globe’s biggest polluters to finally act on climate change, an issue that threatens their very existence, Zee News reports.

Host nation the Marshall Islands wants the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which opens in the capital Majuro on Tuesday, to kickstart stalled international efforts to tackle global warming and rising seas.

“We want this to be the Pacific Islands Forum where the region says ‘enough’s enough’,” said Marshall Islands Minister Assisting the President Tony deBrum.

“The Pacific Rim is the source of more than 60 per cent of the world’s emissions and rising, so this is the key battlefield in the war against climate change. It’s time for us to unleash a new wave of climate leadership.”

The 15-nation PIF consists mainly of small island states, along with resource-rich Papua New Guinea and regional powers Australia and New Zealand.

Read the full story on Zee News
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Social Dimension of Climate Change

The Minister for Environment, Lands & Agricultural Development and Chairman to Parliamentary Climate Change Committee, Hon. Tiarite Tioti Kwong launched the Kiribati Documentary on Social Dimension of Climate Change on Friday 02 August 2013 at Parliament club, Ambo.

The documentary supported by the EU Global Climate Change Alliance: Pacific Small Island States (GCCA: PSIS) Global Climate project, shows the impacts of climate change on the densely populated island of South Tarawa, Kiribati’s capital.

“Variability is threatening our existence as a nation and people, but Climate Change is now deriving us from the basic necessities of life, water, food, health and our ecosystem,” he said.

“To meet this challenge, all stakeholders within country and externally need to work as one. Mainstreaming climate change into national priorities to be able to come up with focused solutions to work against Climate Change — whether through adaptation investments, technical assistance or public awareness is therefore an urgent call.” Hon Tiarite Tiooti Kwong stated.

Watch the full video below.

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WHO links climate change and disease increase
Climate Change and Health
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Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project underway

Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project ground breaking in Eita

Local dancers beside the Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project signboard outside Eita Maneaba during the ground breaking ceremony. Picture Aretitea Teeta/AusAID

The ground breaking ceremony for the Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project (KRRP) was a success on Friday 26 July 2013 at Eita village, a historic site on Kiribati’s capital, South Tarawa.

“This is an important milestone of achievement, a green light for the go ahead of the actual construction of the road in the upcoming days” said Hon. Kirabuke Teiaua, Minister for Public Works and Utilities in his speech.

The KRRP is a $48.2 million project – funded by AusAID, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank in partnership with the Government of Kiribati – to reconstruct 35 kilometers of road for the 60,000 people living on South Tarawa.

The Kiribati Road Rehabilitation Project will provide more than 40 per cent of the population with better access to health clinics, schools and markets as well as assist the Government and the people of Kiribati in many ways such as:

A significant reduction in road maintenance costs
Improvement in health (less noise and dust) and road safety (wider pavement with more bus passing bays)
A reduction in travel times
Reduced wear and tear on vehicles

Rehabilitation of the road will start when the materials arrive in October and will take about 690 days to complete.

The Kiribati Adaptation Program Phase III (KAPIII) working on freshwater supply and coastal protection has on the other hand identified 8 locations on South Tarawa that is threatening public assets which includes inter alia the road in terms of coastal erosion. Tonkin and Taylor, contracted by the Government of Kiribati will review the designs for coastal protection works on the eight (8) sites identified.

“The arrangements agreed are such that KAPIII will work with the KRRP contractor to build coastal protection works on the eight sites distributed as follows – that works on 6 sites will be implemented by KRRP contractor McConnell Dowell with funds provided by KAPIII while works on the other 2 sites will be contracted out to local contractors. Construction supervision for the former will be provided by an engineering contractor Roughton Int’l while the latter will be supervised by MPWU through the services of KAPIII Senior Civil Engineer.” KAPIII Program Manager, Kautuna Kaitara said.

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Mangroves for coastal protection

Tekimau Otiawa inspects the mangroves in Bonriki, a nursery for Mangroves

Press Release, Bairiki, Tarawa 25 July, 2013

The Environment and Conservation Division and the Kiribati Adaptation Program – Phase III to Increase Coastal Resilience are once again working together, this time to benefit communities in Nonouti, Tabiteuea South, Tabiteuea North and Beru. The joint project has already visited Marakei, Abaiang and Abemama to promote and undertake mangrove planting as both a mitigation and adaptation option for coastline protection and marine resource enhancement.

Communities on Marakei, Abaiang and Abemama are now working together with Government to plant mangroves and protect their own coastlines from erosion as a result of education and awareness on mangrove importance and planting carried out by the Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agricultural Development (MELAD), Environment and Conservation Division (ECD) and the Kiribati Adaptation Program- Phase III (KAPIII).

The$150,000, four-year mangrove project is funded by KAPIII while the implementation is undertaken by ECD. The project commenced in early 2013 and will end in 2016.

The KAPIII project continues and expands on the highly successful work on mangroves to prevent further coastal erosion in local communities under KAPII in 2010. The initial stage under KAPII worked with communities to plant mangroves in Makin, Butaritari, Maiana, Aranuka, North Tarawa and South Tarawa.

“The project is a very worthwhile project as it is a source of defense against coastal erosion and we are very fortunate to have ECD as the implementers of this project because they have a lot of passion and with their passion the project has been carried out successfully in the outer islands,” Mr. Kaitara said.

“The ECD’s role is very important and involves communicating with the community to get their commitment in mangrove planting as a ‘soft’ option source for coastal protection,” KAPIII Program Manager Kautuna Kaitara said.

“The project has been effective on the outer islands because communities have that commitment for the project, which in turn has led to the successfulness and sustainability of the project in the outer islands,” he said.

ECD Project Coordinator for Invasive Alien Species Tekimau Otiawa said the ECD emphasised to communities the importance of working together to protect their coastlines. For example, communities were encouraged to have a mangrove day to learn about and plant mangroves together as a team, she said.

“We also emphasise to schools in the outer islands to include in their activities the importance of mangroves and to have field trips to mangrove areas. To practice and understand the importance of mangrove planting at an early age is very crucial,” Ms Otiawa said.

Mr Kaitara added an informed decision has to be made with respect to the application of ‘soft’ options such as mangrove planting or ‘hard’ option like seawalls to deter coastal erosion. He explained that using the soft or hard options really depend on the outcome of the assessment of the area affected. It is common to see in our situation the application of ‘soft’ option on the lagoon side of the island and ‘hard’ option on the ocean side of the island however, there are cases that both options can be applied in the lagoon or on the ocean side of the island.

About KAPIII:

The Kiribati Adaptation Program began its third phase (KAPIII) in mid-2012. KAPIII aims to improve the resilience of Kiribati to the impacts of climate change on freshwater supply and coastal infrastructure. KAPIII’s motto is Fresh water supply. Coastal protection. Our Future.

One of KAPIII’s key components is to increase coastal resilience by using soft options such as mangrove planting or hard options such as seawalls to reduce coastal erosion and protect native habitats, which are home to important sea life such as the sea life we feed our families.

There are 4 types of Mangroves in Kiribati, namely Te Nikabubuti (White mangrove), Te Aitoa (Black mangrove), Te Tongo Buangi (Oriental mangrove) and Te Tongo (Red mangrove).

KAP III has a total cost of US$10.8million and will be financed through grants via the World Bank from Government of Australia; the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Least Developed Country Fund (LDCF); Japan Policy and Human Resources Development (PHRD); Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR); and in-kind contribution from the Government of Kiribati.

How do scientists develop climate projections?

Climate impacts almost all aspects of life in Kiribati. Understanding the possible future climate of Kiribati is important so people and the government can plan for changes.

Global climate models are the best tools for understanding future climate change. Climate models are mathematical representations of the climate system that require very powerful computers. They are based on the laws of physics and include information about the atmosphere, ocean, land and ice.

There are many different global climate models and they all represent the climate slightly differently. Scientists from the Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) have evaluated 24 models from around the world and found that 18 best represent the climate of the western tropical Pacific region. These 18 models have been used to develop climate projections for Kiribati.

Figure 1: Carbon dioxide (C02 ) concentrations associated with three IPCC emissions scenarios: low (B1- blue), medium (A1B – green) and high (A2 – purple). The PCCSP has analysed climate model results for periods centred on 1990, 2030, 2055 and 2090 (shaded). Source: www.pacificclimatechangescience.org

The future climate will be determined by a combination of natural and human factors. As we do not know what the future holds, we need to consider a range of possible future conditions, or scenarios, in climate models. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) developed a series of plausible scenarios based on a set of assumptions about future population changes, economic development and technological advances. For example, the A1B (or medium) emissions scenarios envisages global population peaking mid-century and declining thereafter, very rapid economic growth, and rapid introduction of new and more efficient technologies. Greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions scenarios are used in climate modelling to provide projections that represent a range of possible futures.

The climate projections for Kiribati on this website are based on three IPCC emissions scenarios: low (B1), medium (A1B) and high (A2), for time periods around 2030, 2055 and 2090. Since individual models give different results, the projections are presented as a range of values.

Future climate

Climate impacts almost all aspects of life in Kiribati. Understanding the possible future climate of Kiribati is important so people and the government can plan for changes.

Temperature will continue to increase

Projections for all emissions scenarios indicated that the annual average air temperature and sea surface temperature will increase in the future in Kiribati. By 2030, under a high emissions scenario, this increase in temperature is projected to be in the range of 0.3 – 1.3 degrees Celsius for the Gilbert and 0.4 – 1.2 for the Phoenix and Line Islands.

Table 1: Projected annual average air temperature changes for Kiribati for three emissions scenarios and three time periods. Values represent 90% of the range of the models and changes are relative to the average of the period 1980 – 1999. Source: www.pacificclimatechangescience.org

More very hot days

Increases in average temperatures will also result in a rise in the number of hots days and warm nights and a decline in cooler weather.

Changing rainfall patterns

Almost all of the global climate models project an increase in the average annual and seasonal rainfall over the course of the 21st century. however, there is some uncertainty in the rainfall projections and not all models show consistent results. Droughts are projected to become less frequent throughout this century.

More extreme rainfall days

Model projects show extreme rainfall days are likely to occur more often.

Sea level will continue to rise

Sea level is expected to continue to rise in Kiribati. By 2030, under a high emission scenario, this rise is projected to be in the range of 5 – 14 cm. The sea-level rise combined with natural year-to-year changes will increase the impact of storm surges and coastal flooding. There is still much to learn, particularly how large ice sheets such as Antarctica and Greenland contribute to sea-level rise, scientists warn larger rises than currently predicted could be possible.

Table 1: Sea-level rise projections for Kiribati for three emissions scenarios and three time periods. Values represent 90% of the range of the models and changes are relative to the average of the period 1980-1999. Source: www.pacificclimatechangescience.org

Ocean acidification will continue

Under all three emissions scenarios (low, medium and high) the acidity level of sea waters in the Kiribati region will continue to increase over the 21st century, with the greatest change under the high emissions scenario. The impact of increased acidification on the health of reef ecosystems is likely to be compounded by other stressors including coral bleaching, storm damage and fishing pressure.

Read also:

Current climate of Kiribati
Changing climate of Kiribati

Information on this page has been sourced on behalf of the Kiribati Meteorology Service and with kind permission from Australian Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO, 2011.Current and future climate of Kiribati. Visit www.pacificclimatechangescience.org to download information brochures. For further information on this topic please refer to Volume 2 of Climate Change in the Pacific: Scientific Assessment and New Research

Changing climate

Temperatures have increased

Annual and seasonal maximum temperatures have increased in Tarawa since 1950. Maximum temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade. These temperature increases are consistent with the global pattern of warming.

Figure 3: Annual average temperature for Tarawa. Light blue bars indicate El Nino years, dark blue bars indicate La Nina years and the grey bars indicate neutral years.

Annual rainfall has increased

Data since 1951 for Kirimati show a clear increasing trend in annual and wet season rainfall, but no trend in annual and wet season rainfall, but no trend in the dry season. At Tarawa, rainfall data show no clear trends. Over this period, there has been substantial variation in rainfall from year to year at both sites.

Figure 4: Annual rainfall for Kiritimati. Light blue bars indicate El Nino years, dark blue bars indicate La Nina years and the grey bars indicate the neutral years. Source: www.pacificclimatechangescience.orgSea level has risen

Sea level has risen

As ocean water warms it expands causing the sea level to rise, the melting of glaciers and ice sheets also contributes to sea-level rise.

Instruments mounted on satellites and tide gauges are used to measure sea level. Satellite data indicate the sea level has risen across Kiribati by 1 – 4mm per year since 1993, compared to the global average of 2.8 – 3.6 mm per year. Sea level rise naturally fluctuates from year to year and decade to decade as a result of phenomena such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

Figure 6: Observed and projected relative sea-level change in Kiribati. The observed sea-level records are indicated in dark blue (relative tide-gauge observations) and light blue (satellite record since 1993). Reconstructed estimates of sea level near Kiribati (since 1950) are shown in purple. The projections for the A1B (medium) emissions scenario (representing 90% of the range of models) are shown by the shaded green region from 1990 to 2100. The dashed lines are an estimate of the 90% of the range of natural year-to-year variability in sea level.

Ocean acidification has been increasing

About one quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted from human activities each year is absorbed by the oceans. As the extra carbon dioxide reacts with sea water it causes the ocean to become slightly more acidic. This impacts the growth of corals and organisms that construct their skeletons from carbonate minerals. These species are critical to the balance of tropical reef ecosystems. Data show that since the 18th century the level of ocean acidification has been slowly increasing in Kiribati’s waters.

Read also:

Current climate of Kiribati
Future climate of Kiribati

‘Overcrowding and climate change’

Reuters photojournalist David Gray visited South Tarawa recently, here’s what he had to say …

The ocean laps against a protective seawall outside the maternity ward at Kiribati’s Nawerewere Hospital, marshalling itself for another assault with the next king tide.

Inside, a basic clinic is crowded with young mothers and newborn babies, the latest additions to a population boom that has risen as relentlessly as the sea in a deeply Christian outpost where family planning is still viewed with skepticism.

It is a boom that threatens to overwhelm the tiny atoll of South Tarawa as quickly as the rising seas. Some 50,000 people, about half of Kiribati’s total population, are already crammed onto a sand and coral strip measuring 16 sq km (6 sq miles).

“Climate change is a definite long-term threat to Kiribati, there’s no doubt whatsoever about that,” says Simon Donner, a climate scientist at the University of British Columbia who has been visiting South Tarawa since 2005.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s the biggest problem right now … Any first-time visitor to Tarawa is not struck by the impacts of sea level rise, they’re struck by how crowded it is.”

Read the full article and view the pictures at news.yahoo.com
Read the South Tarawa Island Report for more detailed information on South Tarawa
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Government and SPC talk joint strategies

The Government of Kiribati and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) have been working hard to develop a new joint country strategy (JCS) between SPC and the Government of Kiribati.

JCSs are multi-year plans that align the priorities of SPC member countries with the services that SPC can provide. The new plan will focus on a strategy for 2013 to 2015.

Discussions on the strategy, which took place early April 2013 on Tarawa, involved identifying the country’s key development priorities and matching these with the expertise SPC can provide in sectors ranging from fisheries to statistics.

The mission follows a review of the first JCS (2008–2011) carried out in October 2012, which found that SPC in close collaboration with the Government of Kiribati had effectively implemented activities and services in line with Kiribati’s development priorities.

David Teaabo, Pacific Plan Desk Officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, commented that the JCS approach is very much a joint approach and relies on full engagement by the government.

According to Mr Teaabo, the collaborative approach promoted by the JCS makes it possible to improve coordination and collaboration efforts at national level to enable Kiribati to pursue its development priorities.

The mission team was led by Mike Batty, (Director of SPC’s Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division) and included representatives of SPC’s Strategic Engagement, Policy and Planning Facility as well as its Statistics for Development Division. The SPC team’s Kiribati counterparts included Mr Teaabo as well as representatives of the National Economic Planning Office.

Mr Batty said that cooperation between the government and SPC had been excellent, which was a testimony to the commitment by both parties to ensuring that Kiribati’s development priorities are translated into concrete actions.

New solar project for South Tarawa

A new solar energy project has the potential to reduce diesel fuel use in Kiribati by up to 230,000 litres a year.

A formal agreement for the project was signed between the Government of Kiribati and the World Bank at the Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland on Monday.

HE Anote Tong at the Pacific Energy Summit 2013 in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: Brendon O’Hagan

The project will install solar panels at four sites across the capital of South Tarawa and feed them into the existing power grid.

Training will also be provided to the Kiribati Public Utilities Board to operate and maintain the solar power stations.

The project is expected to reduce diesel fuel use in Kiribati by up to 230,000 litres a year, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At present, it is estimated almost half of Kiribati’s 110,000 people live on Tarawa atoll and are dependent on expensive diesel generators to produce electricity.

The signing ceremony took place at the Pacific Energy Summit in Auckland and was attended by President of Kiribati Anote Tong and World Bank Country Director for the Pacific Islands Franz Drees-Gross.

Shifting Kiribati’s focus to reliable solar energy will provide a more secure and sustainable power source for the country’s people, President Anote Tong said.

Mr Drees-Gross said: “This project is a win-win for Kiribati and sets an important precedent for renewable energy development in the country.”

Find out more about the 2013 Pacific Energy Summit