Climate Change & Coastal Protection in RMI

The following activities are being supported under the European Union funded GCCA: PSIS project in RMI.

Climate change adaptation project

RMI has chosen to focus its adaptation project on enhancing coastal protection. Over the long term, coastal erosion and inundation threatens many of the country’s low-lying atolls, and RMI has identified the need to enhance its ability to design and implement appropriate and sustainable coastal protection measures. The adaptation project under the GCCA: PSIS project focuses on an outer atoll, Aililnglaplap, and the construction of a causeway to maintain access between two islands in an area of coastal erosion.

The project is also intended as a blueprint for a best practice guideline for coastal protection projects in future. In addition, it will support national stakeholder dialogue and planning for a building code or similar that can help guide future planning decisions, to reduce risks from climate change and extreme events.

Further information:

Technical assistance with mainstreaming of climate change and improving access to climate finance

In RMI, the GCCA PSIS project has supported:

  • Climate Change Finance Assessment for the Marshall Islands. This in-depth study was conducted in 2014, and examines the extent to which RMI has already accessed resources for climate change objectives, how its domestic systems – including policies, institutional arrangements and public financial management systems – could be adjusted so as to make more effective use of available finance and also increase future access to climate finance. The GCCA: PSIS project contributed staff and funds towards this project, led by PIFS and in partnership with other regional organisations (see the Finance Assessment final report).
  • An assessment of the extent to which climate change has been mainstreamed into national and sectoral policies and plans (see a summary of the assessment).
  • The development of the Marshall Islands Climate Change Glossary that would help more widespread appreciation concerning the conversation about climate change and the Marshall Islands.

Training and capacity building

As part of the GCCA:PSIS project, several kinds of training have been delivered in RMI:

 

Strengthening coastal resilience in the outlying atolls of the Marshall