Caribbean and Pacific Islands receive awards for resilience projects

Boaters at sunset. Credit: Pixabay

The Climate Program Office (CPO) is announcing 11 new two-year projects in Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) that aim to identify and better understand evolving climate risks, vulnerabilities and adaptive capacity for islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The competitively selected projects total $3,140,372 in grants1. These island resilience projects will help foster the integration of this knowledge into adaptation and resilience planning for these islands.

Small island geographies are among the most vulnerable to climate change. Many of them are
already facing compounding climate risks and cascading impacts related to relative sea level rise, coastal flooding, shifting temperature and rainfall patterns, increasing ocean acidification. The impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems, and extreme events such as storms, droughts, and marine heat waves contribute to their vulnerability as well. Islands throughout the world are environmentally, socio-economically and culturally diverse, but many share characteristics that shape their climate-related risk and response actions. Islands are leading the way in developing adaptive pathways and solutions.