Ecosystem-based adaptation in three Pacific island countries
Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping (ESRAM) is a component of the Pacific Ecosystem Based Adaptation to Climate Change Program; a five year project funded by the German Government, implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme to explore and promote ecosystem-based options for adapting to climate change. The project aims to help integrate Ecosystem-based Adaptation into development, climate change adaptation and natural resource management policy and planning processes in three Pacific island countries providing replicable models for other countries in the region.
CHALLENGES AND SENSITIVITIES IN ASSESSING TOTAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICE VALUES
The ESRAM and EcoAdapt team have had their article published online on 5 August 2020 - Challenges and Sensitivities in Assessing Total Ecosystem Service Values: Lessons From Vanuatu for the Pacific. The article makes recommendations to address the challenges of accounting for ecosystem condition, data gaps, and consideration of customary benefits, provide context to the interpretation of our results, and suggest where further research can ameliorate risks. Keywords: ecosystem services, economic valuation, subsistence farming, land-use change, cultural ecosystem services.
RELEASE OF REPORT - VANUATU
In 2018 the Griffith University team released it's report - Vanuatu - Ecosystem and Socio-economic Resilience Analysis and Mapping.
The Report contains a national-level assessment of Vanuatu’s social-ecological systems in the context of building resilience to climate change. It includes outcomes of the ESRAM conducted of Tanna island. The Report contains:
1. a mapping of key ecosystems for Vanuatu and Tanna in terms of their type, condition and the ecosystem services they potentially generate
2. an economic evaluation of the benefits to local communities arising from these ecosystem services
3. an assessment of the risk to community sustainability from threats and pressures to ecosystem health, including climate change related hazards, for three of the most important ecosystem/land use types: coral reefs, kastom forest, and subsistence gardens.