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Supporting a Collaborative Regional Assessment of Future Climate Impacts on Natural Resources in the Pacific Islands Completed

By Climate Adaptation Science Centers December 31, 2014

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In order to better document, manage, and adapt to the impacts of future climate variability and change on diverse natural resources in Hawaiʻi and the US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI), several regional climate research programs including the Pacific RISA, the PICCC, the NOAA RCSD, and the East-West Center came together in 2011-2012 to collaboratively produce the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) (Keener, 2012) for the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA). Natural resource managers in sectors such as freshwater, coastal inundation and hazard response, and marine and terrestrial ecosystems need frequently updated summaries of regional and local climate trends, projections, and impacts to better include future climate in their planning strategies. Managers also desire translation of technical climate variables into sectorally relevant impacts and subsequent action and policy responses (Spooner et al., 2013). The proposed collaborative Sustained Assessment Specialist position for the next round of the PIRCA process will provide both timely regional and island level climate summaries and conduct research to identify and define climate variable thresholds that lead to management and adaptation actions on an island scale.
In order to better document, manage, and adapt to the impacts of future climate variability and change on diverse natural resources in Hawaiʻi and the US Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI), several regional climate research programs including the Pacific RISA, the PICCC, the NOAA RCSD, and the East-West Center came together in 2011-2012 to collaboratively produce the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) (Keener, 2012) for the 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA). Natural resource managers in sectors such as freshwater, coastal inundation and hazard response, and marine and terrestrial ecosystems need frequently updated summaries of regional and local climate trends, projections, and impacts to better include future climate in their planning strategies. Managers also desire translation of technical climate variables into sectorally relevant impacts and subsequent action and policy responses (Spooner et al., 2013). The proposed collaborative Sustained Assessment Specialist position for the next round of the PIRCA process will provide both timely regional and island level climate summaries and conduct research to identify and define climate variable thresholds that lead to management and adaptation actions on an island scale.