Resilient Coastal Fisheries and Aquaculture in Nauru

The proposed project aims to utilize an integrated approach to natural resource management and utilization to address a number of long-standing barriers that have hampered the implementation of climate adaptation solutions with regards to Nauru’s coastal fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Further, historical obstacles to the sustainability of these sectors have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which shed light on the country’s extreme reliance on imports for its food supply and aquaculture supply chain, which resulted in increased human-induced pressure on climate-vulnerable coastal and reef ecosystems. These ecosystems are increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts such as warming ocean temperatures, resulting in extensive damage caused by coral bleaching, which in turn causes depleting fish stocks and biodiversity. The overall aim of the project is to provide the necessary tools and human capacity to accelerate the implementation of sustainable national coastal fisheries plans and conservation measures to protect vulnerable coastal
ecosystems, and to enable the scale up of aquaculture operations to increase the climate resilience of livelihoods
and health of local communities.
In light of the above, the project objective is: The climate resilience of Nauru's population is enhanced due to
creation of climate resilient and diversified domestic fisheries and aquaculture sectors, resulting in greater food
security, nutrition and ecosystem health under predicted climate change scenarios.
This will be achieved by meeting the following goals:
• The climate resilience of Nauru's domestic fisheries and aquaculture sectors is enhanced to result in
greater food security, nutrition and ecosystem health under predicted climate change scenarios
• The adaptive capacity of fisheries-dependent communities is increased as a result of enhanced
practices and knowledge of sustainable, climate-aware fishing practices
• The adaptive capacity of national institutions is enhanced through the mainstreaming of climate
change resilient approaches in key climate vulnerable sectors