Nauru prioritises water storage and security

Transcript

Nauru has identified water storage and security as urgent priorities of its climate change adaptation.

The country's Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction has been developed with various regional organisations including the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

SPC's Climate Change Adviser, Sanivalati Tubuna spoke with Koroi Hawkins about Nauru's frame work, or RONADAPT for short.

SANIVALATI TUBUNA: Basically the objective of the RONADAPT is intended to support progress towards the countries national development priorities and environmental sustainability. This is outlined in their Nauru National Sustainable Development Strategy 2005 to 2025.  By ensuring that a focus on reducing vulnerabilities and risks to sustainable development posed by climate change and disasters is incorporated into national and sectoral planning.

KOROI HAWKINS: What is Nauru's key priority for climate change under their framework?

ST: Our countries differ in terms of their climate change adaptation projects that they have identified for each country. But in particular case for Nauru, our focus here for example is expanding national water storage capacity and improving water security in Nauru. That is our project in Nauru in relation to the climate change adaptations projects.

KH: Now you have this plan you have this framework, how hard is it to actually put it into practice?

ST: The preparation of the plan involves wide consultations so I believe there is acceptance of the plans priority's within Nauru. So for each sector clear priorities have been identified. For example in the water sector Nauru has requested and are working now in collaboration with SPC through our project and other regional organisations to prepare water and sanitation masterplans. So in terms of documentation there might be some challenges given that Nauru's limitation in terms of it resources. Nauru is calling on the international community and development partners as a whole to help them provide them with resources to supplement Nauru's limited resources.

KH: Finally how big an issue is climate change in the Pacific region and is adaptation the only avenue? Is it too late now to talk about mitigation? Are we now just trying to survive?

ST: Yeah climate change is very serious for the countries in the Pacific. Adaptation and mitigation I shall say are both vital, they are both vital. We all need to work, I mean in the various levels that we have local, national and international level to  reduce green house gas emissions. And it is the hope of the Pacific Islands that a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be reached in December this year, hopefully in Paris at the conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the same time we have to work on planning and implementing measures that will help us adapt to climate change now and in the long term.