PaCE-SD

Welcome to the USP-Coastal Community Adaptation Project (USP C-CAP)

CCAP Knowledge Center

Overview

Through C-CAP, USAID supports local-level climate change interventions in nine Pacific Island countries:, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. In 77 communities in these countries, USAID is working to increase local knowledge and adaptive capacity through community-based training. When applied, these forward-looking interventions will increase the resilience of Pacific Island coastal communities to the projected impacts of climate change. Rehabilitating and constructing new, small-scale community infrastructure C-CAP is leading coastal communities through a participatory process to: identify current and projected climate change impacts; map existing community infrastructure assets; prioritize infrastructure-related adaptation needs; and implement infrastructure adaptations designed to structurally withstand the impacts of climate change and functionally increase community resilience to climate change. Through risk mapping and vulnerability assessment activities, communities develop awareness of climate change adaptation issues and approaches and acquire fundamental decision-making skills, setting them on a course to proactively manage their climate change risks and adaptation interventions beyond the duration of the project. Building capacity for community engagement for disaster prevention and preparedness USAID is helping coastal communities build upon their existing and traditional disaster management approaches and adopt new strategies intended to mitigate risks presented by the region’s new and predicted climate reality. New risk management strategies may involve implementation of disaster drills and other risk mitigation exercises, as well as building of networks that link communities to national and regional disaster management services.

USAID/C-CAP is comprised of three major technical components—each with multiple component tasks—in addition to overarching program management activities. These are:

Component 1: Coastal Zone Management Improved/Water Resource Management Capacity Improved

  • Task 1.1: Identify and prioritize districts and coastal communities for participation and activities for implementation
  • Task 1.2: Develop a network of Social Mobilizers from participating districts/communities
  • Task 1.3: Develop and apply criteria to identify and prioritize community-specific social and economic infrastructure activities
  • Task 1.4: Develop specifications, advertise, negotiate, award and monitor subcontracts for infrastructure rehabilitation, repair or upgrading and new construction activities
  • Task 1.5: Conduct activity management.

Component 2: Disaster Management Strengthened

  • Task 2.1: Risk identification – develop or update locally tailored assessments to improve understanding of current and future risks
  • Task 2.2: Options identification – identify gaps and opportunities to reduce vulnerability and risk over both short and long term scales
  • Task 2.3: Risk reduction – support for implementation of risk reducing adaptation activities at community level.

Component 3: National Consultation to Define National Engagement Opportunities and Strategy

  • Develop a national government consultation methodology to improve understanding of gaps between CCA and DRR policy and community vulnerability and priorities
  • Implement national government consultation methodology and complete report for opportunities to strengthen policy and build institutional capacity for implementation
  • Propose Component 3 work tasks to strengthen national CCA and DRR governance and institutional capacity.

Implementation and Progress

As C-CAP nears completion, USAID has implemented risk identification, capacity building, infrastructure adaptation, and disaster preparedness in 77 communities across Fiji (10), PNG (10), Samoa (10), Tonga (10), Vanuatu (10), Kiribati (5), Tuvalu (2), and Solomon Islands (10). In Nauru, C-CAP is working with the national government to provide an island-wide water management project. C-CAP’s decision support tool for adaptation of community assets- the Infrastructure Prioritization Index (IPI) – is positioning communities to methodically analyze asset vulnerability to climate change and identify their highest-priority infrastructure needs for adaptation. By using the tool, the majority of communities have already agreed upon their priority adaptation infrastructure interventions, which include drainage and flood control system upgrades, rainwater catchment system improvements, cyclone-proofing of community buildings, and coastal protection and erosion control projects. The design, tendering and construction of identified activities is well underway, and many communities have already completed their infrastructure projects. By the end of the project, all 77 communities will take ownership of this decision-support tool and be able to continue using it as their adaptation needs evolve. As the C-CAP team completes infrastructure adaptation projects and disaster preparedness and response plans across its partner communities, USAID is expanding the reach and use of C-CAP’s cutting-edge adaptation resources and tools across nine Pacific Island countries to make them more resilient to the adverse impacts of climate change.

The USAID/Pacific Islands Coastal Community Adaptation Project (C-CAP) (October 2012 – May 2017) is implemented by DAI in partnership with the University of the South Pacific (USP) Pacific Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (PACE-SD). From the C-CAP office in Fiji, USAID champions the project’s primary objective to build the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities in the Pacific region to withstand more intense and frequent weather events and ecosystem degradation in the short term, and sea level rise in the long term. The project works directly with coastal communities across the Pacific Islands region to rehabilitate or construct new, small-scale community infrastructure that is resilient to the impacts of climate change; and to build capacity for disaster prevention and preparedness. The Pacific Island countries (PICs) comprise the most vulnerable region in the world to climate change. The nature-based livelihoods and diverse cultures that have risen from these island nations, some of which stand only meters above sea level, are being challenged, and in some cases overwhelmed, by sea level rise, increasing air and sea surface temperatures, shifting rainfall and storm patterns, and other impacts of climate change that are projected to increase over the next 100 years. National adaptation strategies and policies are being put in place in many C-CAP countries, but implementation lags at the community level across the region. The impetus for this program stems from the critical importance of building vulnerable coastal communities’ capacity to apply climate-smart decision-making to improve coastal zone and water resource management and strengthen disaster management. Through C-CAP, USAID is strengthening resilience to climate change in nine Pacific Island countries—Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. In 77 communities across nine PICs, USAID is building local knowledge through community-based training and participatory risk mapping and analysis; cultivating adaptive capacity by helping local leaders factor climate change projections into traditional decision-making processes; and strengthening resilience to disasters and climate change impacts through implementation of built and natural infrastructure and disaster prevention and preparedness training.  

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