Taféa

Pénama

Torba

Sanma

Shéfa

Malampa

Vanuatu

<p>The project aims to strengthen climate resilience in Pacific Small Island Developing States by supporting locally led adaptation innovations through the Climate Innovation Co:Lab. It helps communities, youth, and local enterprises design, test, and scale solutions addressing climate risks like sea-level rise, droughts, and cyclones. Through stages of incubation, acceleration, and amplification, it promotes knowledge sharing, gender equality, and traditional knowledge, fostering inclusive, sustainable, and regionally coordinated adaptation across the Pacific.</p>

This project will finance the development, installation, and operation of up to 15,000 hydro panels across 1,000 sites in the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

All four target countries face high climate vulnerability due to changing weather patterns, floods, droughts, and seawater intrusion, which worsen annually. This results in deteriorating water access and security in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Water utility services are severely limited: 10 per cent coverage in Papua New Guinea, 20 per cent in Vanuatu, 30 per cent in the Marshall Islands, and 57 per cent in Tonga. Despite prioritising water security in National Adaptation Plans, fiscal constraints and underdeveloped capital markets hinder large-scale infrastructure projects.

The project targets approximately 100,000 direct beneficiaries in rural and outer island communities, especially schools and public institutions without access to safe drinking water. The proposed technology in each hydro panel is atmospheric water generation (air-to-water), offering a decentralised water supply solution. It extracts potable water directly from the atmosphere using solar energy, replacing reliance on rainwater, groundwater, or bottled water.

Some key activities include signing sustainable financial and operational agreements, installing decentralised solar-powered hydro panel systems, and ensuring long-term system sustainability through operations and maintenance.

The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are vulnerable to climate change impacts due to threats from coral reef degradation and ocean warming. Higher sea temperatures are degrading coral reefs and reducing the amount of reef fish available for coastal populations’ food security. Ocean warming is also driving the redistribution of tuna stocks. Many PICs rely on tuna fishing access fees for government revenue, which is essential for funding national health, education, disaster preparedness, and post-disaster recovery programmes. The redistribution of tuna towards the high seas threatens to significantly undermine government revenue, with projections of severe economic losses by 2050.

This project will build resilience in tuna-dependent economies and communities by addressing food insecurity and economic risks caused by climate change. It will achieve this by enhancing access to tuna for coastal and urban communities, strengthening national fisheries systems, and improving forecasting to manage tuna redistribution effectively. Key activities will include technical support for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) deployment, fisher training, post-harvest improvement; policy development, improved handling, and market opportunities; and using science-based forecasts and projections to reduce uncertainty in climate change-driven tuna redistribution.

This project covers 14 PICs and uses a comprehensive programmatic approach to address food security and the economic stability of tuna fisheries. It prioritises community-driven adaptation by deploying FADs, training fishers, and involving local stakeholders in decision-making. With women’s participation actively promoted, this inclusive approach ensures adaptation measures will align with local needs and traditional practices.

GCF's Project Preparation Facility (PPF) support was deployed to help develop the project.

Local CSOs and CBOs in landscapes-seascapes around the world access grant financing and technical assistance, including capacity development and knowledge sharing to maintain and enhance their socio-ecological resilience, well-being and socio-economic conditions for global environmental benefits.

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Vanuatu

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